Subject:
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Re: Three Cheers
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Sun, 7 Nov 1999 09:00:55 GMT
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Viewed:
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798 times
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Oh, I get the gist of your concern, because I have it too. After reading
Todd's message, I was no less cynical about TLG than before, as this is
just a narrow software focus, having nothing to do with The Brick.
When they start dialogue about longtime concerns with GETTING BRICKS (S@H
parts packs, bulk bricks, whatever, I don't care, as long as I can get
"bulk"), I'll be less cynical.
Steve Demlow wrote:
>
> In lugnet.general, Todd Lehman writes:
>
> > This is a rally for everyone to give a round of applause to the LEGO Group
> > for its unprecedented overture this past week. Several very important and
> > wonderful things have just happened!
> >
> > + Direct participation in LUGNET newsgroups by a LEGO manager
> > + Recognition of the existence of an adult LEGO Users Group (NELUG)
> > + Recognition of a third-party software system (NQC)
> > + Recognition of the adult robotics-hacker/hobbyist subcommunity
>
> This is indeed a milestone, and I am thrilled to see these things occur.
> However, after considering the subject of this new openness I am neither
> quite as surprised nor quite as optimistic as would seem to be warranted.
> Why?
>
> What these events really focus on is software. As opposed to the traditional
> plastic brick product, openness in the area of software has several things
> going for it:
>
> - Software has a history and tradition of open community participation (the
> free software/open source approach(es))
> - Commonly used and well understood licenses are available for sharing
> software in a free and non-obligatory manner
> - Software is often seen as a necessary (costly) evil when selling hardware -
> TLG is only going to sell more Mindstorms hardware if people are making
> powerful software freely available for it
>
> These attributes seem to be foreign concepts to the part of the company that
> deals with ABS products. Obviously some of these things just don't map
> to material products, and certainly differences are exacerbated at least in
> part due to the differences in law (or legal perception) related to product
> design, etc., which reinforces the high-wall-deep-moat attitude that the rest
> of the company seems to have. Unfortunately I don't see that this outlook
> will be affected much, at least not any time soon, by what's going on in the
> Mindstorms part of TLG.
>
> I'm not trying to be pessimistic here - I really do hope that this is a
> harbinger of things to come in TLG's approach to the fan community in areas
> outside the software-related, but I see it as being a slow process at best.
>
> It's rather late and I'm sure my thoughts could have been presented better
> but hopefully the main point is intact.
>
> Steve
--
Tom Stangl
***http://www.vfaq.com/
***DSM Visual FAQ home
***http://ba.dsm.org/
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: Three Cheers
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| (...) <snip reasoning> (...) I can understand the concerns you've put forward, but in essence, I don't care. I think any step forward is good. Consider: Someone at a Managerial level actually WANTS interaction with the adult community. How can that (...) (25 years ago, 7-Nov-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Three Cheers
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| (...) I gotta weigh in on the cynical side, but who would have expected anything else from me? I'm reminded, after seeing several "finally, a first step" messages, of the gushy responses to the new parts packs this year - black roof bricks, black (...) (25 years ago, 7-Nov-99, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: Three Cheers
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| (...) traditional (...) I think this is because software people realize the market of ALL people, while otherwise TLG don't get the fact that they shouldn't focus only on kids. I'm saying this as a 'girl', not "qualified" to be AFOL but still has (...) (25 years ago, 15-Nov-99, to lugnet.general)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Three Cheers
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| (...) This is indeed a milestone, and I am thrilled to see these things occur. However, after considering the subject of this new openness I am neither quite as surprised nor quite as optimistic as would seem to be warranted. Why? What these events (...) (25 years ago, 7-Nov-99, to lugnet.general)
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