The week of weird connections continues…
Macworld talks about the homebuilt Mac hobby community. One thing stuck out for me:
One approach—which appears to be the approach Apple’s taken thus far—is to simply ignore these hobbyist hackers. Since there’s no real measurable impact on Apple, fighting the hobbyists may be more trouble than it’s worth.
The article then goes on to describe some of the benefits for Apple.
One of the issues I’m hoping to address in my dissertation is the role that the law plays in people’s hobbies (specifically, copyright and groups like mash-up artists). The quote above captures a sentiment that is often felt by hobbyists, but to the contrary, many media companies feel the impact is not negligible and that it is worth the trouble. There are so many fascinating connections here: between the law against the hobby, the market for the machines protected by the law, and the desire to express a connection to the party that could change their mind and sue you. I never would have thought of any of this in the context of hardware.