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Taken from :
http://www.lego.com/press/legocompany.asp
Online LEGO users design their own sets.
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The LEGO Company now gives consumers power over product development, including
the extraordinary step of letting online users design their own LEGO® products.
"We have always believed that LEGO products should be open-ended, and now we're
taking that idea to its logical conclusion online," says Executive Vice
President Torben Ballegaard Sørensen. "Rather than closing the shutters to the
world, technology now enables us to involve our consumers in product development
- so that they're not simply consuming a product, but inventing it. This is
critical to succeeding in the highly turbulent online marketplace."
For the LEGO Company, the direct-to-consumer business model is intended to work
as a two-way street. For example, the online shop has begun offering consumers
the chance to buy bricks individually and create customized sets, based on their
own imagination. Within a year building instructions for LEGO sets developed
since 1955 will be accessible online. "And in 2002, we will begin a program
where LEGO builders will be able to build any three dimensional creation using
free software to create building instructions for their model - and then order
the appropriate number and type of bricks," says Torben Ballegaard Sørensen.
An early reward is LEGO® Mosaic, which was released in November this year.
Imagine you could take a photographic picture - any picture - and turn it into a
one-of-a-kind poster-sized mosaic made from 1,936 LEGO bricks. At www.LEGO.com/
Mosaic, you can do just that. Eric Harshbarger, a LEGO enthusiast, worked with
LEGO Company to develop the LEGO® Mosaic product - and came up with the idea
because he wanted consumers to be able to design personal and customized sets.
The initiatives are partly the result of a new division of the LEGO Company -
called LEGO Direct - which was created to help build a new type of relationship
with consumers through LEGO.com, the LEGO Club and LEGO theme parks. "The idea
is to help creativity flow not only between the consumers and the company, but
also between individual LEGO users, building a symbiotic relationship," says
Senior Vice President Brad Justus, head of the new LEGO Direct division. "Kids
of all ages have wonderful ideas for what to build with LEGO bricks, and we want
them to feel they can participate in charting the future of the company."
Building a global LEGO community online
Already, dozens of independent LEGO user groups have sprung up in cities and
regions across the world to share their common interest. One of the best
examples is LUGNETTM (LEGO User Groups Network) where more than 10.000 LEGO
enthusiasts from all over the world interact in a virtual network.
"We created LUGNET because we knew we couldn't be the only LEGO enthusiasts in
need of a place to meet independently of time, place and resources to exhibit
LEGO creations, exchange information and speak about our common interest: LEGO",
says Suzanne Rich and Todd Lehman, founders of LUGNET.
Contact person for US media
Michael McNally, Public Relations, LEGO Systems, Inc.
Telephone: (+1) 860 763 7825
E-mail: michael.mcnally@america.LEGO.com
Contact person for Belgian, Dutch, Luxembourg, Irish and UK media
Jennie Green, PR Executive, LEGO Europe North
Telephone: (+44) 1753 495 000
E-mail: jennie.green@europe.LEGO.com
Contact person for Austrian, Swiss and German media
Ulrica Griffiths, PR Manager, LEGO Europe Central
Telephone: (+49) 89 45 34 277
E-mail: ulrica.griffiths@europe.LEGO.com
Contactperson for French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese media
Urs Bachmann, PR Manager, LEGO Europe South
Telephone: (+39) 23 19 271 / (+41) 79 340 6081
E-mail: Urs.Bachmann@europe.LEGO.com
Contact person for all other countries
Eva Lykkegaard, Global Company Communications
Telephone: (+45) 79 50 60 70
E-mail: Press@LEGO.com
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In lugnet.lego.announce, Suzanne D. Rich writes:
> Within a year building instructions for LEGO sets developed since 1955 will
> be accessible online.
Al of them ? That would be great... no, that would be gigantic. The sheer
size of it demands very well designed index and search facilities.
> "And in 2002, we will begin a program where LEGO builders will be able to >build any three dimensional creation using free software to create building >instructions for their model - and then order the appropriate number and type >of bricks," says Torben Ballegaard Sørensen.
Any limitations on avalable types of bricks with this program ?
It would be perfect if the software is able to import the dat-file format.
Greetings, M. Moolhuysen.
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Manfred Moolhuysen wrote:
> In lugnet.lego.announce, Suzanne D. Rich writes:
> > Within a year building instructions for LEGO sets developed since 1955 will
> > be accessible online.
>
> Al of them ? That would be great... no, that would be gigantic. The sheer
> size of it demands very well designed index and search facilities.
>
> > "And in 2002, we will begin a program where LEGO builders will be able to >build any three dimensional creation using free software to create building >instructions for their model - and then order the appropriate number and type >of bricks," says Torben Ballegaard Sørensen.
>
> Any limitations on avalable types of bricks with this program ?
> It would be perfect if the software is able to import the dat-file format.
>
> Greetings, M. Moolhuysen.
Like I stated earlier, the problem for old LEGO set instructions for sets from 1955 to 1972 is that 1) Town was alone in the LEGO System world until Train came out in 1966, and others in the 1970's and 2) classic windows came in 9 window sizes and 1 door size (all mostly in red
or white, with a few in yellow).
So unless you have a decent quantity of classic doors/windows, you will not be able to build them. (I am assuming that TLC will not reintroduce classic windows as part of bulk orders). And then there are the (long out of production) specialty parts of the '50s-'70s era such as
the old flat trees, old road signs, Esso Sign/Pumps, 4x8 right and left curved white plates (without the missing notch of plastic on the curve), LEGO street lights. Not to mention the old (scale 1:87) metal wheeled LEGO cars and trucks that were part of some of these old sets
(Fire Truck, Esso Tanker, Tow Truck, misc. truck (lorry), passenger cars). At least all the bricks that were available back then are still available today (with a few exceptions that have exact substitutes today).
Gary Istok
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In lugnet.lego.direct, Gary Istok writes:
[snip]
> So unless you have a decent quantity of classic doors/windows, you will not >be able to build them. (I am assuming that TLC will not reintroduce classic >windows as part of bulk orders). And then there are the (long out of >production) specialty parts of the '50s-'70s era such as the old flat trees, >old road signs, Esso Sign/Pumps, 4x8 right and left curved white plates >without the missing notch of plastic on the curve), LEGO street lights.
I'm still glad, because I still own some of these parts, though severly worn
out. After 15 years of intensive use those old bricks had lost all their
"clinging"-power, fortunately current bricks are of better quality.
Also I remember, since there still was no brick seperator in those days, we
kids often resorted to a dental separation procedure. I'm sure this acounts
for the rarety of mint sets from this period. I've never stopped paying with
Lego, I've skipped the famous "Dark Ages" completely.
Greetings, M. Moolhuysen.
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