Tzetze Fly

• Evidence Based Scheduling - Joel on Software
  Software developers don’t really like to make schedules. Usually, they try to get away without one. “It’ll be done when it’s done!” they say, expecting that such a brave, funny zinger will reduce their boss to a fit of giggles, and in the ensuing joviality, the schedule will be forgotten…
• You have to love this industry - blog.pmarca.com
  I know I do! October 2: Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive, believes that the craze for individual social networks such as Facebook risks being exposed as a “fad”… “I think these things [social networks] are going to have some…

• New Flickr UI with Geotagging is Very Impressive - GigaOM
  Flickr has long been a darling of photo lovers, primarily for its minimalist (and intuitive) user interface. However, with over a billion photos, Stewart Butterfield, cofounder of the Yahoo-owned photo service, it is becoming hard to find stuff, and it is time for a new user experience revolving around the concept of discovery…
  
  How long before a photo of every house in the US is on Flickr with geo-tags?

• One Step Forward, Two Hundred Steps Back - FBS Blog
  Stefan Swanepoel writes that the California Association of REALTORS is taking a step forward by seeking to establish a monopoly MLS covering the state of California. Clareity Consulting has explained in depth why this move by CAR required more thinking, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to make a few points myself…

• Will Zillow.com capture every MLS listing in Houston, the fourth largest metropolitan market in the United States? - BloodhoundBlog
  From Houston RealNews: The Houston Association of Realtors (HAR) may be a whisker away from providing listings data to real estate valuation site Zillow.com.
• Ask 37signals: Is it really the number of features that matter? - Signal vs. Noise
  Pablo Fernandez asks 37signals: Do you really think is the lack of features what makes a software better, or is it the “illusion” of simplicity (hiding the less used features, and emphasizing the common ones)?
• Amazon S3 At Your Service - Amazon Web Services Blog
  Virtually everyone on the Amazon Web Services team has occasion to interact with our developer customers from time to time. This rich source of product feedback gives us a lot of insight into ways that we can do an even…
• And The Walls Came Tumbling Down: Madonna Dumps Record Industry - TechCrunch
  Since reporting Monday that Nine Inch Nails had dumped its record label and was to offer future albums direct to the public, Oasis and Jamiroquai have also joined the move away from the record industry, but the biggest announcement of all is news today that Madonna has dumped the record industry.

• The Effects of Too Much Choice - Daring Fireball
  They created two displays of gourmet jams. One display had 24 jars. The other had 6. Each display invited people to try the jams and offered them a discount coupon to buy the jam. They alternated these displays in a grocery store and tracked how many people passed the displays, how many people stopped and ampled the jams, and how many subsequently used the offered coupon to buy the jam.

  The results were surprising…

• Want New Music? You Name the Price. Really. - O’Reilly Radar
  In the just-sent-to-the-printer October issue of Release 2.0, we examine some examples of what’s happening on the Web’s edge. One of those examples is the music business and the various attempts to resurrect it. As spelled out in Daniel J….

Radiohead announced last night on their blog that the new album is finished and will be release in just 10 days. Of course, I went and pre-ordered the ultimate disc box set right away, but news reports today indicate they are trying a new and different approach with the download version of the album. Unencumbered by a traditional record contract, they’ve decided to make the disc box available at a high price with extra goodies for their fans who will have no problem paying for it, then make the downloads available at little to no cost. It looks like the downloads will require users to register with personal details which can then be used for future marketing.

Earlier, they had announced that the album would not be made available on iTunes, so it looks now like this decision was related to giving them maximum control over the downloads and not having to split (or ensure) any profits.

Not having to share profits with a record company, having very low distribution costs, and having an established brand and fans who will support value-added products and tours all add up and give them the luxury to try a different approach. It strikes me that this is very similar to an open source software model: use low distribution costs to get a software tool in front of as many people as possible, then sell value-adds such as support, maintenance, enhancements, and indemnification, then use the established brand to come up with other products and services to sell the user base.

Is the new Radiohead album the first “open source” album? Or is it just a big train wreck waiting to happen?