Superdistribution: Objects as Property on the Electronic Frontier [Paperback]

Brad J. Cox (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201502089 | ISBN-13: 978-0201502084 | Publication Date: May 1996 | Edition: 1st

This book answers one of the most perplexing questions of the information-age economy: Now that object-oriented technologies ranging from programming languages to graphical user interfaces to the world wide web have made it feasible to manufacture objects made of bits, what does it mean to buy, sell and own them? Brad Cox has the answer: "Superdistribution" a comprehensive yet controversial solution that allows software to flow freely, without resistance from copy protection or piracy. Computers vanish altogether, becoming just part of the plumbing through which people communicate, cooperate, and compete as members of a mature, global, electronically-connected society.Superdistribution means giving up on copyright as the sole basis of electronic ownership and turning to useright instead. It means giving the bits away, but charging customers when they use them.In this book, Cox * Discusses the information age economy in terms of objects made of bitsand defined as property in tangible, intellectual and electronic domains; * Introduces superdistribution as a comprehensive yet controversial solution tothe challenges of developing the information age economy; * Traces the cause of the software crisis to the lack of robust means for supporting electronic ownership and revenue collection within elaborate cooperative communities; * Applies the concepts of interchangeable parts and inspection gauges--techniques pioneered during the industrial revolution--to today's challenge of software engineering on the electronic frontier. 0201502089B04062001

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Now that object-oriented technologies ranging from programming languages to graphical user interfaces to the WWW have made it feasible to manufacture readily transferable objects made of bits, what does it mean to buy, sell and own them? Brad Cox proposes "superdistribution" as a solution that allows software to flow freely without resistance from copy protection or piracy--a "charge as you play" model that will work well in a world of Java-like applets. A well-thought-out "modest proposal" from one of the founders of object-oriented programming.

From the Back Cover

0201502089B04062001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 205 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley Publishing Company; 1st edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201502089
• ISBN-13: 978-0201502084
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762,291 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Software Engineering Book of the Decade, June 27, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Superdistribution: Objects as Property on the Electronic Frontier (Paperback)

Superdistribution is the most important software engineering book of this decade. It is controversial, because it locates the difficulty of software engineering not in development processes or tools---the focus of 99% of the software engineering community---but in the way that software is bought and sold.

Cox's claim can be summarized in four points: 1. The reason that software is costly, of low quality, and difficult to construct is that we build it rather than assemble it from prebuilt components, the way that every other engineered product is constructed. 2. the reason we build rather than assemble is that there is not a robust market for buying and selling components. 3. The reason there is not a robust market for components is that there is no standard mechanism for pay-per-use of components. 4. The reason there is no standard mechanism has to do with the difference between information and atoms

Get it? Neither did I at first. But I am conviced he is right about all four points.

Cox also offers a solution to this problem, a "superdistribution" mechanism that provides pay-per-use. But I think the real value of the book is its compelling explanation of the problem.

David Bridgeland

Powersim Corporation