I did buy that paper in the link below. Looks interesting enough, but
BUT
It is in a pdf file which is hard to read online IMO. I am used to the commands and formatting of HTML on the web, I have control over the presentation. All that is lost with prf. Of course they see this as a strength, that is the whole point. It is WYSIWYG locked in. Quite the opposite of say XML or whatever is being developed so that we can “write once view everywhere”. I can get uprotected pdfs onto my palm or convert them to HTML, but not this one – protected so that i cant even quote a paragraph with cut and paste – gone is the very thing that the web can do so well – allow me to do, cut and paste and so on – all disabled at great trouble and expense. I can see the point – payment for content – but it defies the marvels of sharing info for free. Open content will win out I think, has to be the way to go!
How then do we reward those who create? I’d never want anything i wrote locked up like this. Maybe a one off payment, but then I’d allow anyone to share it. Problems i know. Stephen King uses an honour system – maybe that will only work if you are that famous.
Rewarding the famous has always been out of proportion to rewarding the norm and day to day creator. The unpopular visible hand of the non-market might need to be called in.