pcworld.com — "Want to launch Microsoft Office? Sure, but first a word from our sponsor." That somewhat surreal scenario could become a reality, based on a patent application filed by Apple, which was published today by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Oct 24, 2009 View in Crawl 4
gorftronOct 25, 2009
Your applications can be like Hulu: "This program has been brought to with limited commercial interruption by Ivory Soap."
bbbrianOct 25, 2009
This makes complete sense once you think about it.First, some history. In the late 90s WinAmp was the first mp3 ripper/player to really catch on, then Napster set up their music free-for-all service, and iRiver let you take that free music with you on the first portable mp3 player. The music industry would never be the same. They tried like hell to prevent change from happening with DRM, subscription services that you couldn't take with you on your portable etc etc. The music industry could not figure out how to save their own asses from the free filesharing. Apple knew that filesharing was free, but it also pretty much sucked - your music library was full of crappy rips at low bitrates and you had to spend too much time finding what you wanted. So Apple stepped in and created a technology ecosystem (PC, iPod, iTunes, iTunes Music Store), coupled with a viable business model that was fair to consumers, and allowed the music industry to continue making obscene amounts of money (.99 downloads, reasonable DRM that allowed copying to 5 computers and any iPod, Apple manages distribution for the record labels who no longer have the cost of printing and shipping CDs, etc etc.) Apple put all of the pieces together in a way that works very well- that was their genius.So now it's 2009. The newspaper and magazine industries are on the ropes. People prefer to just read their news online. Newspaper classifieds have been replaced by Craigslist. Newspapers and magazines are closing down - another huge industry in peril because they cannot create the technology ecosystem and business model that will save their collective asses. Nobody will pay for a website subscription - we expect news on the web to be free. But journalists have to be paid to write that content - they have to eat and pay their mortgage afterall. See where this is going? Why hasn't Apple released their tablet PC or netbook yet when every else has one? Because they are building an ecosystem coupled with a business model and that takes a lot of time- the tablet/netbook is only a small component of that, and they won't release it until it is all ready. Why do you need advertising baked into the OS? Because then you can create a way for all of the various content producers to get paid based on page views of their content without each publisher having to negotiate separately with advertisers. And the OS knows what the user is doing so it is much easier to prove to the advertisers that they are getting value for their advertising dollars. Apple won't put ads on your desktop or anywhere else they shouldn't be. Apple won't spy on you because they know you are their golden goose so they will be careful about what they disclose to the advertisers. It's in the OS so that any program or service that wants to use advertising to pay for itself can hook into the ad system built into the OS rather than having to build their own separate ad network that nobody wants to use.Apple will mint cash from this - their tablet e-reader will replace textbooks in schools, magazines, newspapers, etc. Their advertising portal will rival Google's. Some advice - the next time Apple stock does a little dip, take a position for the long term. Or don't, but you will tell yourself in 10 years time 'if I only bought Apple back in '09'...
angelbunnyOct 25, 2009
You got a display model. They are suppose to format it back to standard before reselling it to anyone. Maybe you bought a stolen laptop?Regardless, I would of complained.
monkeyfitOct 26, 2009
I know it's broken. But I thought it was possible to challenge the validity of a patent, but it would usually result in long litigious battles that would eventually cost more than licensing fees. And if Apple ever did any work involving the patent (including r&d that never produced an actual product), then it would basically prove the patent's validity. As a result, challenging is a HUGE risk. But you're right and I know there are hundreds of patent squatters. Maybe I was completely wrong on that point. I apologize for asking a question.
realmike15Oct 26, 2009
I'd like to believe Apple bought this to block other software developers, and not for the intention of using it. Forced advertising is one of the most heinous things I can think of. They'll loose a lot of business if they ever try to use this technology. I have to interact with advertising? No f**k you, i'll buy my software somewhere else.
johnnysoftwareOct 31, 2009
If you buy a PC right now from the Microsoft store it will come with a vulnerability in IE8, Adobe Reader & Acrobat browser plugins that are actively being exploited, and lots of other goodies.The Omni software is good stuff. I kind of wonder though how much the MS Office trial versions get used.
johnnysoftwareOct 31, 2009
Google ads do not include images or Flash movies which renders them a lot safer than others' web ads.