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Scrivener's Error| null | |
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Scrivener's Error |
Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting. |
link to: 11:44 [GMT-6]
A lingering case of the 'flu can sure infect the link sausages. Don't worry, though — this batch was started afterward.
If there is one thing that Jobs should be known for — but is not — it is his championing of closed systems based upon his view of proper Design (and Control of the User). On the Macintosh, recall the sealed cases in an era of hobbyist homebuilds; the one-button mouse that persists to this day; the refusal to accept already-established standards, such as floppy-disk formatting and keyboard conventions (some of us, after all, are touch-typists); the file system that breaks files into multiple parts; and, perhaps most egregiously, the never-trust-a-user-to-know-what-the-user-wants nature of the Macintosh OS itself. Similarly, for the iGadgets, consider all of the new and incompatible media formats demanded by Apple devices, primarily to prevent people from accessing data not obtained through Apple itself... and the implicit disdain for literacy in way the interfaces denigrated word-orientation in use. Those techie gripes pale, though, compared to the sheer arrogance and self-serving nature of his quarter-century-long struggle to not just compete better, but avoid competition at all, through closed systems... which essentially denies the distinction among hardware, software, and data. Example: The public release of the trailer from The Avengers today in QuickTime format — the page for which, unlike releases in DIVX and Windows Media format, refuses to acknowledge the existence of compatible players and demands download of QuickTime (and the iTunes store, and oodles of crapware).
I do not rejoice in the death of any human. I do, however, hope that Jobs's departure will — eventually — lead to less arrogance in Cupertino. The Lords of Redmond have, at least, demonstrated more (not nearly enough, but more) willingness to adapt to market demands and individuality than that.
The initial impulse of creativity is not economic in origin. Economic support certainly sustains creativity, but does not define or (pardon the pun) create it in the same way as it does merchant banking or farming; Lee Goldman wisely objects to putting the publishing cart before the storytelling horse, and he's in TV! It is entirely meaningless to speak of a "creative class" in the same terms as infected by Marxist (and neoclassical) appropriation of the term "class". This is, perhaps, most obvious among college undergraduates — the "creatives" are far more akin to particular sororities and fraternities than anything else, even though sororities and fraternities together were the real class definition. Walking through Malinckrodt on the way to class meant playing "spot the dancers" with their legwarmers and tights in the same way as one played "spot the Ape" with their AEΠ uniform t-shirts; but there was no cohesive origin to these groups. Trying to pretend that there is for the convenience of manipulating the group as a whole is about as likely to be successful as herding cats.
Ritual disclaimer: This blog contains legal commentary, but it is only general commentary. It does not constitute legal advice for your situation. It does not create an attorney-client relationship or any other expectation of confidentiality, nor is it an offer of representation.
All material © 2003–12 except where otherwise indicated. All rights reserved. This blawg does not use the Creative Commons License, although I'm usually pretty good-natured about permissions for attributed reuse.
I approve of no advertising appearing on or through syndication for anything other than the syndication itself; any such advertising violates the limited reuse license implied by voluntarily including syndication code on this blawg, and I do not approve aggregators and syndicators whose page design reflects only an intent to use the reference(s) to this blawg without actually providing the content from this blawg.
Sausages?
Internet link sausages, as frequently appear here, are gathered from uninspected meaty internet products and byproducts via processes you really, really don't want to observe; spiced with my own secret, snarky, sarcastic blend; quite possibly extended with sawdust or other indigestibles; and stuffed into your monitor (instead of either real or artificial casings). They're sort of like "link salad" or "pot pourri" or "miscellaneous musings" (or, for that matter, "making law"), but far more disturbing.
I am not responsible for any changes to your lipid counts or blood pressure from consuming these sausages... nor for your monitor if you insist on covering them with mash or sauce.
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Warped Weft
Now live at the new site. I have arranged some of
the more infamous threads that have appeared here
by unravelling them from the blawg tapestry (and hopefully eliminating some
of the sillier typos). Sometimes, the threads have been slightly reordered for clarity.
Links of Interest
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Other Blawgs, Blogs, and Journals
These may be of interest; I do not necessarily agree with opinions expressed in them, although the reasoning and writing are almost always first-rate (and represent a standard seldom, if ever, achieved in "mainstream" journalism). I'm picky, and have eclectic tastes, so don't expect a comprehensive listing.
A blawg is sort of like a blog on legal issues, but usually has a lot more links to outside resources (other than other blogs) than does a typical blog. Scrivener's Error is a blawg, not just a blog. You can find other blawgs at < ? law blogs # >.
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