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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (34817)	11/13/2000 10:30:47 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

Hello Paul, > I still don't think you understand what I'm saying That is quite possible. I am doing my best to interpret and understand your posts, but obviously there is a good chance that your explanation just isn't coming through ... as an experienced presenter, I understand how it can often take numerous attempts to present a clear case for a particular possibility. I guess that we can keep working at this ... > The situation is this. I am Bertelsman. I accept the > notion that 40 million people want to listen to music over > the internet because they can avoid carrying around a > bunch of CDs and listen to the music wherever there is a > computer or wireless device they can get access to. Yep ... and they can get access to all the breadth of music out there, easily, and quickly. No trip to the store ... Of course, your description discards the realization that the "free" (but illegal) aspect is involved. > What is it that Novell could sell to them about a personal > directory that is useful to Bertelsmann. There is quite a lot that I have formulated over the last several years that involves identity management, and customer/membership relationship management, and that is the foundation of my original work with digitalMe. That's the area that I have my immediate focus on. That is one core value that has a proven track record of cost savings ... > Here is the answer Scott. It's an answer ... > It isn't security. Get that out of your head. It is the > ability to identify their customer. It is the ability to > sell something to a known entity. I am who I say I am. A > transaction is conducted between a known and identifiable > me and Bertelsmann for the right to listen to some music. Yep ... this is what I have been working on ... not security. I already know it's not security ... you keep bring it up. > That is what you are selling Scott. If Novell cannot sell > that then forget about eDirectory. it has no value to the > music industry. However if Novell can sell this ability to > ID the customer then you got something to sell. I disagree with your absolute and total statements, but I understand that you are using them in an extreme example, and due to frustration? eDirectory has a wide range of value that it can provide any industry ... we are selling it now without the capabilities that you are describing. Of course it is my intention to enhance those sales with further capabilities in these areas ... Also, I am very much aware of the value of identity and relationship management ... that's why I chose to work on this area for so many years. > Now assuming we have a transaction and I get the right to > play some Bertelsmann music over the internet. So what I believe that you mean is "With an account/identity with Bertelsmann, I can access their on-line music collection." Yes ... this sounds like normal controlled access to a web site ... although there are some other capabilities which can really enhance this membership scenario, IMHO. > The following scenario deals with the problem of "illicit > copying". Oops ... so now we get to security? I thought that I was supposed to get that out of my head ... ????? > If I encrypt the music, and send you the key to play it > with, stream it down to you and further send you a music > player that must be used to play it then you are stuck > with only a couple of options. Actually, there are numerous more that I have ... and I'll touch on a few. > You can try to capture the data stream --- but you can't > decode it without my player. You can send the player, the > captured stream around to your friends etc. but I'll put a > trace code into it that will lead me back to you. I'll offer one more here ... since I am running this on a standard platform (for example Windows) I can install a simple driver which uses the standard Windows APIs to fork the output music stream at the audio card level, and record this unencrypted stream to a file. This is simple to do, there are numerous drivers out there to do this ... and I do it today. There is no way to secure the audio output on a platform which provides open APIs for the writing of audio drivers. For all the complaining that we often hear, the Windows platform is far to "open" to secure the music as you describe. And this is only one way I can defeat the process ... > You can record the sound coming out of your speaker and > re-record it. But gee digital to analog to digital > degrades the sound quality. And guess what? I'm going to > let you do that because its legal to copy for your own > use. If you want to send that out over the interent fine. > I'm going to charge so little to my customers that you > will be like the pushcart vendor on the street compared to > McDonalds. This is another argument that I hear quite often, but even the movie studios that I meet with understand that this is also flawed. MP3s that are being used today are already degraded quality ... any audiophile understands this. You do not get the huge amounts of compression (12:1) without losing something. And these are the files that are being copied all over the Internet today ... so per your quote "I'm going to let you do that because its legal to copy for your own use. If you want to send that out over the interent fine." And this is what is occurring today ... > And you know why I'm going to be able to do all this? > Because with a custumer I can identify I know who bought > my product. Sure ... they have a customer relationship ... I'm all over that. But when you again veered into the encryption/security area you completely lost me. I thought that we had "got that out of [our] heads." ;-) > By secure digital identity I have never meant security in > the copying sense but security in the you are who you say > you are sense. Great ... and that's what I have been, and am, working on. > That is what Novell should, assuming it can, be selling to > Bertelsmann. ... and a lot of other customers ... > ============= > > Oh yes and also the ability to store the ownership rights > in my identity vault in my personal directory. Hmmm ... what exactly are the "ownerships rights"? What form do they take? I'd like to understand this if you can provide some more detail ... > Do you understand this yet? What you are describing in the customer/member relationship stuff is common sense to me. What you describe about the encryption stuff is still unclear in implementation ... Scott C. Lemon (P.S. I have to say that this is pretty cool tonight ... I stopped to visit a friend and am using my 802.11b wireless card in my laptop to sit in his kitchen, accessing his 802.11b access point in the basement, and then jumping over his IDSL connection to read and post. I can't wait to do this from my wearable computer before long ... ;-)