Comment "Lost" Money (Score 1) 491
First, in regards to the comments regarding the lack of randomization in the study, these are right on target. If people are volunteering to fill it out, chances are, the selected population are wasting more time than the real population mean.
Second, the number tagged on as "lost" money is complete baloney. This is similar to the figures put towards pirated software by the various software companies. XXX number of pirated copies means YYY numbers of "lost" money. This overlooks the point that MOST people who pirate software probably aren't willing to pay for it, regardless of whether or not they can get it for free. Therefore, if all the XXX number of pirated copies were simply unpiratable, they would NOT generate YYY amount of extra money for the software companies, because that money IS NOT THERE.
The same goes for the figure put towards measuring lost productivity into real money value. Chances are a majority of people who are wasting time are not busy enough, waiting for someone else, waiting for a meeting, or whatever the reason might be. So in other words, IMO, if these people were not wasting time by surfing the web or what have you, they would probably be staring at a wall. This is not lost money, as the productivity to generate the money isn't possible.
The study ITSELF is a real waste of money.
Second, the number tagged on as "lost" money is complete baloney. This is similar to the figures put towards pirated software by the various software companies. XXX number of pirated copies means YYY numbers of "lost" money. This overlooks the point that MOST people who pirate software probably aren't willing to pay for it, regardless of whether or not they can get it for free. Therefore, if all the XXX number of pirated copies were simply unpiratable, they would NOT generate YYY amount of extra money for the software companies, because that money IS NOT THERE.
The same goes for the figure put towards measuring lost productivity into real money value. Chances are a majority of people who are wasting time are not busy enough, waiting for someone else, waiting for a meeting, or whatever the reason might be. So in other words, IMO, if these people were not wasting time by surfing the web or what have you, they would probably be staring at a wall. This is not lost money, as the productivity to generate the money isn't possible.
The study ITSELF is a real waste of money.
