Just curious but did he have anything to say about Peter Cooper's assertion that a freely available e-book would promote hard copy sales? I've pirated a few e-books in my time and almost every single one of the ones that actually turned out to be useful resulted in the actual book sitting on my bookshelf.

I read the first couple of chapters of that Stephen King crapfest. The only idea he had for that was to see how little actual content he could string together in an incoherent jumble and sell as a "Chapter" to get people to pay way more then they would have for an actual book.

The big problem I see with Valve's idea is you would need a community that actually trusts you to deliver on your promise. Pre-Left 4 Dead 2 announcement Valve probably had that kind of community. They don't any more and apparently haven't begun to realize it yet. Valve had a great community that would plunk down money for a promise. Why will that community keep plunking down money when Valve has shown that they'll walk away from their end whenever they think it serves them better?

Besides this idea isn't that far off from what is already happening in the game market. Heck, how many games come out now that aren't really any where close to being a finished product with the idea that if they are successful enough the company might (or might not) bother to fix them? All he's really proposing is that instead of paying to beta test the games like we do way to often now, we start paying at the barely an idea phase. How many times will the community invest in game ideas that go no where before they stop throwing good money after bad?

Another thing, what would stop Valve (or anyone who tried this approach) from taking the money, creating some barely working mishmash of ideas that show some promise, release a barely working version as the "finished product', and then promptly turning around and releasing the a more polished, "completely different", even though it's almost exactly the same game, as a separate property?

The answer? Not a damn thing.

I'm not saying this idea wouldn't work. But it would depend a large part on the level of trust your audience had that you would actually deliver a final product.

I imagine you're on to something.

If I'd have been on that jury when they flipped over the harddrive and said "Hey... this thing couldn't be the right one it wasn't even made yet according to the date stamped ont it"

I would have turned to the person sitting next to me in the jury box and said "This person just wasted a week of our lives. I no longer feel sorry for her at all."

(well... ok... I'd have used more colorful language I'm sure)

Don't forget the other major obstacle...

She lied under oath... probably several times.

I agree with you on needing a better champion to rally around in the fight against the RIAA. Everyone wondered why her first attorney bailed... he knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

The person driving the car is the RIAA executive laughing his ass off all the way to the bank.

He's amused as hell that he's been ripping the flute player off for years now, but has managed to convince him it's all his fans fault.