On Online Distribution

December 13, 2002

Tim O'Reilly: Piracy is Progressive Taxation, and Other Thoughts on the Evolution of Online Distribution.

Lesson 1: Obscurity is a far greater threat to authors and creative artists than piracy...

...And that's the ultimate lesson. "Give the wookie what he wants!" as Han Solo said so memorably in the first Star Wars movie. Give it to him in as many ways as you can find, at a fair price, and let him choose which works best for him.

I had trouble picking out a pull quote from this piece, because it is consistently cogent and eloquent throughout.