We all know that correlation isn't causality -- but the trouble with the argument put forth by Michael Malone (actually, echoed by him; it's an old argument) is that it doesn't even have correlation behind it. I have a hard time seeing correlation between the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley and the tanking of IPOs. IPOs tanked before SOX (and not surprisingly, just after the tech bubble burst). After SOX, they were on the rebound. This year they have tanked again (and not surprisingly, in one of the worst economic climates in recent times). Look it up. One may not like SOX, and there are certainly things about it that can be criticized, but it sure is hard to tie it to downswings in IPOs.

As a longtime fan of Moby Dick the novel, I would have no problem with Moby Dick the game, even if it allowed a way for Ahab to win or for Starbuck to jump ship and invent coffee. Not only are the novel and the game different art forms, they are different creations -- just as a film "based" on a book or a play is a distinct creation, and I don't expect it to adhere faithfully to the original. I just want it to be good. (My favorite Macbeth film is Throne of Blood, which takes great liberties with The Scottish Play, but wow I love what Kurosawa and his gang were able to do.) Others of course feel differently. They may feel that the spirit of the original is violated if the follow-on work in another medium messes with the script, or leaves out things they deem important ... and I must admit being rawther bent out of shape, myself, at the ending of the LOTR III film. But hey, that's what a creative commons (or for that matter a creative culture) is all about: people being inspired by or borrowing from the work of others, to create their own things that are cool and new. And since the White Whale, unlike a certain Mouse, is not locked up behind a chastity belt of IP, I say: have at it, mates.