january 6, 2006
All you anti-DRM people out there spewing about how bad Apple's FairPlay DRM is for content...Here is an interesting WSJ article about Google's new Video service and how Google has developed their own DRM (does the world need yet another DRM?). Here's the thing though, everyone who is a Google zombie (Gombie?) will think the Google DRM is the greatest thing in the world because they are all Google fanboys.
Here's a run down of Google DRM vs. Google Corporate Philosophy:
Google Corporate Philosophy number six: You can make money without doing evil. Whoops, that one is broken. DRM is evil. It does not let the end-user do what they wish with what they bought. The studios and producers get to dictate what they want us to do with the music, movies, or whatnot that is locked into DRM. Google has "gone Sony" by introducing DRM in order to make money.
Google Corporate Philosophy number seven: There's always more information out there. Yea, but if you want it, you'll have to pay Google for it. Is this the start of something new for Google? Lock up the information and then ask for payment in order to get it?
Google Corporate Philosophy number nine: You can be serious without a suit. Which, deeper reads, "Google's culture is unlike any in corporate America." Strange, the culture seems to be getting pretty close to corporate America now...
Oh, and the best one is Google Corporate Philosophy number one: Focus on the user and all else will follow. "While many companies claim to put their customers first, few are able to resist the temptation to make small sacrifices to increase shareholder value. Google has steadfastly refused to make any change that does not offer a benefit to the users who come to the site." Yikes, count that one flushed down the toilet. I think most people will agree: DRM sucks and makes the experience of an end-user drastically worse. Because of Google's large sacrifice for the dollar, people will probably not be able to play their videos on a whole slew of devices -- my guess, Google DRM'd video will not play on an iPod video. That really does not benefit the user, not one bit. It is all for the dollar, it is all for the shareholder and it is all a big sacrifice.
Maybe Google will update their little astrisk "Full-disclosure update" section (as they did when they released Google Talk) at the bottom because of this. I have a suggestion for the update: "Google has become a large corporate entity. Because of the high expectations for us to make money (in order to justify the $600 per share prediction) we have sold out. We were a small underdog company that everyone embraced before, but we are not that company anymore. Google is now the Microsoft of the 21st century, we are the Goliath. You will continue to like us no matter what, so whether we adhere to our Corporate Philosophy or not, we don't care. It's just for show anyways."
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