Archive for December, 2010

2 results.

Bunnies Versus Horses

Dec27
on 2010/12/27 at 1:13 am
Posted In: Business, Controversy, Virtual Worlds
I see lots of folks, including the Ozimals owner, presenting what is probably accurate facts, like the post mentioning that an “Amaretto dev” spoke with Ozimals, trying to get along, then was told it was too similar.  Okay, that shows both sides tried to avoid a fight.  But it’s the conclusions that seem all wrong to me.   None of these so-called facts are even relevant.  They aren’t legal facts.  They are attempts to sway public opinion, and they will  not last 5 minutes in court.  It’s full of comments like this:

We communicated our concerns and rights in June and attempted to very politely inform Amaretto that they must develop their own concept so that any problems could be avoided.

Ozimals effectively told Amaretto that their product was too similar a copy, perhaps even a clone, functionally.  That Ozimals would not allow this.  The idea isn’t new.  There were lots of breedable animals prior to Ozimals.  But they called it “unlawful” and that the reason they were doing this was “to help establish a safer environment for great ideas to flourish in Second Life.”
And in fact, they then proceeded to halt it legally via a DCMA complaint to LL, which would cause massive trouble not only for for Amaretto but also for their entire customer base, as Amaretto horses would be forcibly removed by Linden Lab.

On what basis?  My understanding — and we’re all being armchair lawyers here — but is Ozimals trying to say that they hold a copyright on the concept?  This concept has been around a long time.  Concepts and ideas are covered by patents.  So which patent is it that Ozimals has that prevents a clone?

it was immediately obvious that the current state of the Amaretto horse product was a near complete clone of the Ozimals concept of a breedable

It seems to me that Amaretto pretty much readily admits that they made a breedable horse directly based on the concepts, rules, “gameplay” and terms used by Ozimals in the bunnies.  But if I was developing breedable horses, I would have done exactly the same thing.  It’s what people are familiar with.  To be user-friendly, try to stay consistent with the competition, while doing what they do better.  It’s important that key concepts remain the same, menu buttons consistent with other products, etc. 

If reverse-engineering and cloning a software product (and that seems to be what the Ozimals complaint is all about) is covered by copyright, I’ll eat my shorts.  Farmville would not exist (it was a clone, that was just marketed better).  The CEO of Farmville’s creator, Zynga, reportedly said:

“I don’t fucking want innovation,” the ex-employee recalls Pincus saying. “You’re not smarter than your competitor. Just copy what they do and do it until you get their numbers.”

Also from that report comes the following paragraph:

None allege that Zynga knowingly broke laws. Although the company has been sued for copyright infringement, stealing concepts for games is not in itself illegal.

Ozimals, you do not own the concept of breedable animals.  The DCMA complaint is an abuse of the process.  The Amaretto horses don’t show a lot of innovation, but that is not a copyright issue.

To the Ozimals owners: get out of this case while you can because your lawyers are going to suck you dry and you will end up paying for the Amaretto defense as well.  If they stole textures, or the actual scripts, you’d have a case.  If they made their horses look like your bunnies, you might have a case.

The DCMA system is there for when someone comes in and copy-bots your objects, your scripts, your layers.  My understanding is that the Amaretto product was independently developed, and it really doesn’t matter if they looked at Ozimals very closely or not.  Cloning your product isn’t an issue.  You need to keep innovating and use your existing market lead to continue to differentiate and dominate… or fall behind.

There’s a hoooge difference between something you don’t like, and something that crosses a legal line.  This is a marketing challenge to you, Ozimals.  Whether Amaretto is around next year or not is irrelevant.  Even if I was completely wrong and this case could be won, others will show up to the market as well.

Ozimals, step up and meet this marketing challenge outside the courtroom, with innovation, marketing and customer demand, or face extinction.
6 Comments

Home For The Holidays

Dec24
on 2010/12/24 at 7:31 pm
Posted In: Fun, Real Life

I don’t usually blog about my personal affairs too much; I think it’s a bit of “why would anyone care?”  But today I will make an exception.

I’m on the road, staying at my mother’s apartment in a seniors’ complex in Halifax, 1000 miles from my condo in the big city of Toronto, Canada.  It’s another timezone farther east, so I am SL/IW +4 hours, something that is completely messing with my mind.  I arrived early this year, on the 17th, and it’s a bit of a marathon, trying to get everything done, while sleeping in her living room (she’s an early riser too), shopping, dealing with family and chores, spending some quality time with my partner Gabi online, trying to make some progress on InWorldz permissions, and this thing called Christmas that kinda gets in the way Big Time, but is the whole reason I am here in the first place.

This year, the priority is squarely on family, and to a lesser degree, my RL friends.  It was great to see almost all of them crammed into a house for a party last Saturday, another reason for arriving here early.  Then my mother’s birthday on Sunday, then I managed to get all my shopping done, slowly, carefully, over 3 days of  mostly planning then the swift precision of a military covert op, left me with time to leisurely return back to HQ in spite of the backlog of heavy traffic fighting their way onto the packed rush hour streets from the mall exits.

It didn’t matter, all was well.  I was making good progress each day, and finished my shopping on Day Three, and finished my wrapping last night.  I’ve outdone myself this year, often completely unimaginative, handing out a plethora of gift cards, but this year real presents for all, except for my brother whose employer closed down on the 17th.  He gets the MasterCard gift card; he may need that this year more than any other gift.  Everyone is getting gag gifts at first.  My goal is to hit everyone with a “WTF?” moment when they unwrap mine.  For example, he is a bit macho, and has a new dog this autumn, so he gets the nice looking “Dog Fashion” book that I actually paid 70 cents for, complete with dogs in frilly dresses on the cover.  The gift card is inside.  /me giggles at the thought of him opening that one.

But it’s awkward being in Halifax when Toronto is my normal home base.  I feel more “home” here than anywhere in the world; this is where I was born and grew up.  But all my “stuff” is in Toronto.  My bed.  My computers.  My Internet radio station, The Rock Party has been acting up for the last day or so, with buffer underflows (music dropouts and “skips”) and although I have full remote access to all the machines there, and my router, I have been unable to resolve the problem.  It’s probably a provider issue, and that is just going to have to wait for my return.  It’s just too awkward to fix remotely.  And my partner, Gabi, is getting the short end of the stick with me on the road and busy too.  But she is so good about it; frankly I don’t deserve her.

So while I can’t wait to get home again, sleep in my own bed, fix The Rock Party, and get back to work more comfortably on InWorldz server issues, I hope this year to make the move back “home” to Halifax.  I left “for 2 years” and it has now been 26 years.  It would be great for Halifax to be both my natural home, and my practical one.

But until that day arrives, I will cherish the moments I get with my mom and my family here, making them the clear priority on everything.  Helping mom with so many things, cooking her meals all week, doing her shopping, groceries, and fixing things, because I finally realize what Christmas is all about.  And to not stress over it.  Just do what you can, and enjoy, and share that joy with your family and friends.

I hope you all can all find that peace and joy somehow this year, if not over these holidays, then throughout the year whenever you can.  Even when out and about, in the Christmas madness, try to just relax and be a friendly and patient driver.  Chat with others waiting in line at the stores.  Spend too much.  And enjoy a few treats too and don’t worry about it at all.  Everything is good for you in moderation.  That doesn’t mean you can never enjoy the nasty ones.  But most of all, I hope you can just relax and enjoy whatever chances you have to see your families and friends.  And if not this week, then I hope it comes as soon as possible in 2011. 

Peace and joy and happiness to everyone these holidays, and a very happy new year to all!

4 Comments