Innovation in Technology
Reading Wired's recent interview with tech mogul Tim O'Reilly and he makes a couple of important points about innovation, growth, and the patent/copyright system in the tech industry. Excerpt: TIM O'REILLY : Everybody wants to foster entrepreneurship, but we have to think about the preconditions for entrepreneurship. You grow great crops in great soil. And the soil is the commons. Increasingly, we have monopolistic companies that try to take as much as they can for themselves. And we have a patent and copyright regime that makes sure nothing goes back into the commons unless by an extraordinary act of generosity. This is not fertile soil for innovation. [...] Pursing this path is not only altruistic. If companies don't think systemically enough--if they try to capture too much of the value--eventually innovation moves somewhere else. WIRED : If you could pick a company that needs to hear this, which would it be? TIM : Apple. They are clearly on the wrong path