Another Roy motto (not really mine but I’m at least saying it)…people don’t watch NBC they watch Seinfeld.
I used to work in Silicon Valley and, while there is no better technology expertise worldwide, they do live in somewhat of a dream world. They are still confused as to why Napster was shut down and now this Google vs Viacom thing is truly perplexing to them. After all aren’t they just making it easier for everyone? Whats wrong with Google indexing every book so that your research efforts will be more complete? YouTube is yet just another great utility function to make our lives richer.
Another industry I used to work in also brought enormous choice and convenience to us, I’m talking about Cable TV. The only difference is cable pays for all the content.
The bottom line is that without the content Google and the cable companies wouldn’t exist…and it costs money, a lot of money, to create compelling content. Why should Google or anyone else for that matter get it for free?
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not necessarily siding with Viacom and friends, and I do believe that Google and much of the Internet has brought our lives into a new and really great/wonderful dimension.
However while I do believe that Hollywood is bullying, I also believe that the Silicon Valley "innocence" is a little contrived and equally arrogant to the Hollywood bullying.
In this case I think Google needs to put some cash on the table and acknowledge the fact that they will still be able to profit off of the millions of web pages indexed at no cost, but when it comes to the big guys they need to share the love.