Thursday 28 June 2007

More Open-Source Please!

Nintendo has announced they are opening up the Wii, allowing anyone to create and distribute games for it. This is a very smart move. Fans' collective creativity and enthusiasm will always be more innovative than that of a small group of professional developers (for just about anything.) Innovation comes with risk, but fans only risk losing their time if they make a flop. Developers potentially risk their jobs.

Plus, people like having control over their technology - being locked out (technologically and legally) of a system you paid for does not inspire customer loyalty - I'm looking at you Microsoft, AOL, and RIAA. Treating fans and customers as team members will always win out in the long run over treating them as potential intruders and theives. Hopefully, more will follow Nintendo's success.

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