When I speak of “competition” it is in the context
of taking a good close honest look at what PG contributes to the world, for
good or for bad, in comparison to that which others contribute to the world,
for good or for bad. For example Google *claims* a slogan of “Do
No Evil” but as one who has had to work with Google, I find the slogan
laughable. Whether you want to call them “competition”, “frenemies”,
“other ways for readers to get good books to read, etc.” shouldn’t
stop you from taking a good hard look at what PG is doing verses what “the
other guy” is doing – and seeing what one can learn from them.
I work a lot on a volunteer basis for one non-profit which “competes”
with other non-profits, and we always need to ask ourselves how what we do
interacts with what the “competition” is doing – even though
both sides would agree we are serving the public good. Then again, most
for-profit enterprises ALSO believe they are serving the public good! The
argument can always be made: if you don’t like what we offer then just
don’t buy it!
Re “Unlimited Distribution” PG puts *some*
legal terms on those distributions, terms which presumably PG means. If
some individuals or organizations violate the terms of these distributions,
then presumable PG *would not* consider that a “win.”
If PG *does* consider the distribution a “win” even when
distributed contrary to the stated terms, then I would suggest that PG needs to
alter or remove the terms. Also PG lives and dies via copyright law, and I
would think that PG would find any company or government action which takes
books out of the public domain, or which moves them from a limbo status back
into a private ownership status, or which violates a reasonable rational spirit
of the Article 1 of the Constitution: “To promote the Progress of Science
and useful Arts, by securing for LIMITED TIMES to Authors and Inventors the
exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries” – any
of these are bad things from the PG point of view and therefore represents “competition.”
The whole Google limbo thing – I would claim – arisen because of
the Mickey Mouse extensions to copyright duration such that publishers really aren’t
interested in supporting a work of art anymore -- but they are also interested
in making sure that no one else can support that work of art either!
Further, in my interactions with PG in terms of trying to get
them to support distribution on this that or the other E-book reader, and in
terms of Michael’s comments on this forum, it would seem to me in
practice PG is very conflicted re the issue of distribution to “support”
this that or the other E-book reader, presumably because at least some people
associated with PG are pretty uncomfortable about many of the DRM side-effects
associated with the growth of those E-book readers. Personally, I find many of the
DRM issues uncomfortable also, but again, I am an omnivore when it comes to my
reading, and I usually find it pretty easy to “route around” the
greatest stupidities in for-profit companies offerings and still read what I
want to read – and without stealing anything. One of the most uncomfortable
things about the Kindle DRM scheme, for example, is that it prevents lending of
E-Books by libraries to Kindle users – and I think that is a pretty bad
thing! Also “competition” is a good thing, and tends
eventually to limit the extent that for-profit companies can do stupid things –
look for example how the music market has played out.