Short-Term Demands from the Software Industry – I
While the final goal is obviously a resource-based economic model, at which point digital copies will be treated as what they actually are, namely an inexhaustible resource, and therefore made freely available to every single person in the world, there’s a lot of work to do before we can get there, so we need to think of the intermediate steps as well. For the entertainment industry, or at least for the part of it that produces content that can be distributed digitally, the Content Creators’ Association would be such a step, but it’d be too difficult for it to be the first one, so what we need is an intermediate step before the intermediate step, if you will.
While I also have a rough idea about what we should demand from the other components of the digital entertainment industry, this post will focus on the short-term demands from the software industry. This is because, unlike music or movies, software can usually only bring revenue through direct sales and donations, which restricts me from demanding an entirely new business model right away. As such, the list I’m working on is an attempt to make the process fairer for both customers and developers while at the same time giving the industry as a whole time to prepare for the next step, which would be, as I said, the Content Creators’ Association.
Since these demands must take the current situation into account much more, the details must also be much more specific. As a result, the full list is, to some extent, still a work in progress, but the first part, which you’ll find below, deals with availability and pricing, which are the problems that must be tackled first in order to fix the relationship between customers and distributors. The issue of DRM and various other issues having to do with the relationship between developer and customer, and between developer and distributor, will be detailed in the next post in this series.
1) Digital versions of all software that’s not intended to be released for free must be readily available and very easy to purchase in fair conditions worldwide. With the possible exception of the countries and sovereign territories where the products or practices in question are specifically banned:
1.1) There may be no geographical restrictions when purchasing digital versions of software. If such restrictions exist, the products are considered to have been released for free in the countries or territories in question.
1.2) The digital release date for any software product must be the same worldwide. A variation of at most one day may sometimes be allowed, but only if fully justified by time zone differences.
1.3) Any company that sells digital versions of software and accepts payments from more than one country or sovereign territory needs to offer the exact same prices before taxes regardless of the customer’s location. The only allowable exception to this rule is for countries and territories justifiably seen as poor, which may benefit from discounts.
1.4) Customers must be able to pay for software through the method of their choice. To this end, in each country or sovereign territory, the digital version of each software product must be sold by at least one store that accepts:
1.4.1) Direct payments and charging a store account from any type of debit card, credit card and digital wallet known to be in use in the area, as well as through payment order and wire transfer from any bank officially operating in the area.
1.4.2) Payments made by SMS, through any mobile operator officially operating in the area. It is not a requirement to allow direct payments by SMS, but charging a store account must be possible through this method as well. If a minimum amount that may be paid through SMS is specified, it may not be greater than 10 EUR before taxes.
1.4.3) The use of at least one type of prepaid card, whether issued by the store itself or by a third party, which can easily be purchased with cash anywhere in the country or territory in question. If the card may only be used to make purchases from a single store, it is permitted to only accept charging a store account from it, but if it may be used at other stores as well then it must be treated as a debit card, allowing customers to also use it for direct payments. The cheapest such prepaid card available may not cost more than 10 EUR before taxes.
1.5) Any additional fees associated with using any of the payment methods listed at points 1.4.1), 1.4.2) and 1.4.3) must be specified clearly before the payment is finalized and may not exceed 1 EUR for payments of at most 20 EUR and 5% of the value of the payment for those that exceed that amount. If the fees charged by third party operators exceed this limit, the difference must be paid by the shop or the software industry as a whole, not by the customer.
1.6) To fairly reflect the reduced costs of digital distribution, if hard copies of a software product are also being sold, the digital version of that same product must be sold for no more than half the price of the hard copy if the latter costs no more than 20 EUR and for at least 10 EUR less than the hard copy otherwise. This applies to the regular prices for both versions, so clearly labeled sales and promotions are excluded.
1.7) All productivity software products priced at more than 50 EUR must offer separate licenses for non-commercial use without any loss of functionality. Such a license must cost no more than 50 EUR if the license for commercial use costs no more than 100 EUR and no more than half the price of the commercial use license otherwise.
As I said, this is only the first part of the list and I’m quite aware that even it has quite a few loopholes, usually doesn’t list penalties and likely also misses a few other issues related to availability and pricing that need to be covered, so do not hesitate to leave comments if you have anything to add or change. I’m hoping to add the second part next week, but may edit this at a later time as well.
