Scrabulous..?

I have no idea how I feel about the great Scrabulous debate.

For info, Scrabulous is a game that has been added as a third party application running on Facebook. It has, seemingly, more users than the entire population of the Earth and is currently free (except of course that it generates ad revenue for its developers). The problem is that it is blatantly a rip off of the classic board game Scrabble (almost including the name).

There are a number of arguments floating around in my head. I'm someone who wants to dream big dreams, and come up with great ideas that (hopefully) might make me some commercial gain as well as change/save the world. And the way that happens is through the process of IP (intellectual property) protection - patents and the like. Now these two guys who built Scrabulous have taken someone else's IP and stolen it. I don't really like the precedent that this sets. As someone who might someday have a Big Idea, I wouldn't want the free-for-all notions that the Internet has enabled (and somehow morally justified) to be applied to my innovations. What's the incentive for me? The trouble is that this, of course, has been going on since time began and a lot of progress is actually built off the work of others. A computer operating system that uses "windows", electrically-powered vacuum cleaners, etc, etc.

Some of the defence of Scrabulous is that it hasn't taken any business from the makers/owners of Scrabble, indeed people are saying that they discovered the joys of the game through the Facebook version and have subsequently gone out and bought a real-life set (making money for the Scrabble guys too). That's a great example of a sort of virtuous symbiosis, a relationship where everybody wins.

And then I keep coming back to the central notion of "Yeah, but they stole the idea.."

I really can't decide.

Information Penetration

I bought a shiny new toy the other day. And it wasn't even Christmas anymore.

The Asus eeePC (http://eeepc.asus.com/uk/index.htm) is a dinky little PC with a solid hard drive that makes it pretty robust. It's also very easy to use. The Linux operating system finishes start up within around 10 seconds of switch on, which means you're not faced with that "barrier" to surfing for something trivial.

The machine itself has been co-opted by a number of the family so far, with by far the most common thing being for web browsing. The screen is not big, but most sites work well enough on it (it is basically Firefox running on a smaller resolution). Tom & Jerry Flash games, browser-based email and cooking recipes have all been found to be very useful. And the machine has been dragged all round the house in a way that the other 2 laptops don't seem to be.

And suddenly I'm struck by the realisation that true "on demand" information is pretty much here (or at least in my house). The interface is one the family are all familiar with. They don't have to wait for 2 minutes for the machine to be ready to surf, it weighs so little (and is so small) that it gets lugged around in one hand (even by the 6 year old). Conversations that start in the kitchen with the line "oh, you should have seen what Bob emailed me today" end up with a physical demonstration of said email, and a view of the links that Bob sent.

So what? Well, the much-hyped UMPC (ultra mobile personal computers) may actually be getting here now, and indeed finding their way into the home. The beastie that I bought can be found in ToysRUs for £219 (when in stock) or even cheaper online. Time to start thinking about the commercial opportunities that may exist in this world. Is it just a bunch of people wasting even more time on Facebook? Or is it more than that?