Yes, we have, and continue to download TV shows and movies off the Internet. Why do we do this? Is it because we are cheap college students? Not really. We download shows because:

• We want to watch shows when they fit our schedule not the cable networks.
• We want to watch shows that we've missed for whatever reason (sometimes you just plain forget, other times you get into a show mid-season,...).
• We want to watch shows before they air because it's just cool to be ahead of the curve.
• We don't want to pay for a really expensive cable package to only watch one show. This is very much akin to being forced to buy a $20 album for a $1.50 track.
• We want to be on the bleeding edge. We were often accused by other housemates of watching downloaded shows just because they were downloaded.

Are we against paying for content? No.

• We had the VIP cable package on Erb. We just didn't have digital cable or satellite which prevented us from getting HBO.
• Once I get a TV I will sign up for the most expensive cable package at like $100/month.
• We rent movies.
• We buy DVDs.
• We buy merch associated with TV like music and trendy clothes.
• We go to movies (indie ones at least) all the time.

If the networks made shows available for easy and convenient download would we pay for it? Absolutely.

But truth be told the reality of the situation today is that it is more convenient to use SuprNova and BitTorrent. And if I could PayPal the creators of The Sopranos and SFU I would.

It really just is the music problem just reappearing for the music and TV industries and my stance has largely remained the same; distribution costs are trending towards zero so give users what they want and compensate creators accordingly.

These opinions are my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. I would have preferred that the article didn't even mention my employer...

Update: See my comments and David's for more thoughts.
9:42:13 PM   []

Feeling busy is great but at Microsoft it is trial by fire so every day I look back on the day and realize just how wrong I did everything. I'm learning that I have to:

• Lead and not just herd the various functional teams to a decision.
• Not accept everything at face value. Question and learn about everything instead.
• Get a diverse range of opinions.
• There is more than one solution. And more than one right solution too.
• Believe in your solutions and decisions because you'll have to defend them and it's hard to defend something you don't believe in.

I've learned more than that but those are a couple high level points.

Some of the other more trivial things I've learned is that we can get bacon on our sandwichs and we have free chocolate milk. I've also learned that you can game the drive home and that you should never ever drive home without at least a two person carpool.
9:29:21 PM   []

Can you please stop trolling around the web signing me up for newsletters and impersonating me and Dinah. I really do not appreciate having to respond to all these people who think I left them derogatory comments.

Update: Heramb and I are in contact and are working together to resolve this issue. Me because I'm tired of the comments and spam and Heramb because his IP address is the one being spoofed. To quote Heramb who is as unimpressed as I am, 'There are lots of losers at UW. LOTS OF LOSERS.'
8:47:31 PM   []