Programm - Tutorials - Produktvorträge - Ausstellung - Pressemitteilung
Program - Tutorials - Product Presentation - Exhibition - Press report

Dr. Brad Cox Georg Mason University

Superdistribution; Objects as Property

The longstanding dream of assembling software from reusable components instead of fabricating it from first principles arises from everyday experience in this approach's benefits when applied to tangible industrial age goods. However software components are different from hardware components in the most fundamental way possible. Tangible goods are made of atoms, and these abide by physical laws that determine what it means to buy, sell and own them. Since software comonents are made of bits and not atoms, they are not governed by the physical laws that have underpinned commerce since antiquity. The presentation outlines the solution that was outlined in the speaker's book, "Superdistribution; Objects as Property". The solution involves relinguishing the habit of selling software as we've sold tangible goods in the past, by the copy. Superdistribution involves actively giving it away, with revenue collection occuring as it is used as distinct from when it is acquired.