Tokyo and tech through the eyes of a split pea

Sony, Get a Hint

(The following is a reaction I wrote down after disagreeing with a decision made from upper management. Basically, a cost-free license for an ATRAC SDK was being developed, but you could only get it in exchange for your soul. I caught wind of the news too late, so I placed this in my drafts box and forgot about it until recently as I was cleaning up some stuff. I thought I’d share it in case others may find it useful.)

While I support the engineers in their effort to provide a freely accessible binary ATRAC library, I would like to clarify to the remaining parties some observations from having spent the past year working with the Open Source Software community. My explanations are kept short and concise with only a few examples; many more can be found on the internet, or by becoming involved with an open source project directly.

Timing and access are paramount

Developers love to tinker. They must be able to test, prod, and try out their hypothesis. This is part of everyone’s favorite term – INNOVATION. Immediate access to relevant information makes a developer happy. Waiting for code, patches, and documentation does not. An unrestricted and open online forum are good. Logins and passwords are not.

Why is this important for ATRAC? Because even now, it is still too difficult for a developer to obtain an ATRAC SDK. A Google search shows nothing on the first page. Independent and “small-shop” developers are *extremely* important. Let us not forget how the iPod came to be.

Developers don’t like to branch software

Splinter groups are generally disliked for core parts of major projects, even by open source developers. It creates a maintenance headache at first, and considerable confusion soon after. Sometimes a branch may happen to test a hypothesis, but usually the effort is merged (or abandoned).

Why is this important for ATRAC? Because a common concern is control – many here feel it will be impossible for Sony to control the source code once it becomes open. This thinking is the wrong approach. Open source projects pit innovation above control. But developers are (generally) smart enough to realize mis-management does not lead to innovation. If Sony does not trust the community, why should the community trust Sony? As long as an agreeable forum, format, and framework is put in place, Sony will easily have the final word on open source development of its own projects. Sony owns the factories and builds the hardware, afterall!

IM, Blogs, VoIP (Vonage vs. Skype), browser progression (Netscape – IE – Mozilla – Firefox)

The biggest connection between currently popular applications in IM, VoIP, blogs, and browsers is that they are all “free”. Free to download. Free to experiment. Free to share. No logins and registrations (beyond the obvious), no multiple incongruous versions, and plenty of (free!) online support. The VoIP service Vonage was introduced before Skype – but one service requires a registration while the other is a simple (free!) download. It is no wonder Skype is so popular now.

Why is this important for ATRAC? In an era of cheap and virtually limitless internet connections, distribution speed is paramount. The key operative business paradigm is “switching costs”. Create a big user base, and it costs more for the customer to switch to another platform. But caution: if you annoy that user base, they may find it costs less to switch than to deal with you. The exodus from IE to Firefox. The exodus from AOL to local ISPs. The iPod. Even, Gillette. In the first two cases, customers found it cheaper to switch than to handle the annoyance of the former. For the iPod, while the mp3 format was dominant, Apple understood they needed to clarify the switching cost when introducing iTMS – guaranteed sound quality, guaranteed service, guaranteed easy of use, guaranteed accessibility. ATRAC only offers one.

OS X: a 20 year old BSD core

A hardware’s life-span is finite. Software’s is virtually infinite. (Recall the Church-Turing thesis, which states that, in a technical sense, any operating system can be emulated within another.) Let us not forget the “Y2K” bug fiasco, COBOL, etc. Currently we are witnessing the appeal of Apple’s OS X, an operating system built on a core developed decades ago. Name me a piece of computing hardware developed 20 years ago which still generates lucrative buzz.

Why is this important for ATRAC? To recognize two points. 1) It may benefit Sony to release the ATRAC source code as a last resort. 2) We may not see the result for a number of years, but if and when we do, we will have the 10+ years of development experience from when ATRAC was first born, not to mention the intellectual capital and intangible assets.

So many options, so little time to hesitate

A final point. Surveying the market and considering your options is an obvious step in any process. Nobody likes to be locked in and bound to some other entity. Before the internet allowed anyone to share their resources and knowledge, big companies *seemed* to guarantee a level of consistency which out-weighed the cost of being bound to them.

Why is this important for ATRAC? There are now numerous options easily accessible and comparable. If a user does not like one option, it costs them next to nothing to try a different one. Nobody likes their time wasted. If there is any doubt a format may survive, why should a customer bother to use it over a freely available, widely adopted, publicly managed alternative?