Re: Update on Napster fabbing

From: Steven (steven@familyjeweler.com)
Date: Sat Oct 06 2001 - 19:32:00 EEST


Marshall,

One of the major things that allowed for disintermediation in the Napster world
that may not work with RP is branding and consistency. A Mettalica song from
one participant in the Napster world is the same as another. Is a bird .stl
from one RPster participant going to be the same quality as from another
participant? No, and this speaks to having an expert intermediary where one can
go knowing that the bird is a good quality file.

Another drawback is that there is no prior knowledge of the file by the person
downloading it so they don't really know if it fits their needs. A person
looking for Born To Run has heard it so they know what to search for. I would
have no idea if a .stl of a molecule would be under Buckyball or C60 and then
whether it was represented as a molecular chain or some other format. By having
a static site versus an ever changing database, JPG images can be stored next to
the .stl so the potential downloader can see what they are getting.

It seems to me that this concept of P2P file is more appropriate within niche
markets where there are standards for the product being traded.

Steven Pollack
President, Digital Jeweler, LLC
www.DigitalJeweler.NET

Marshall Burns wrote:

> Brock,
>
> Thanks for your comments on Napster fabbing.
>
> You're right that "P2P fabbing" would be a more accurate term, but more
> people know what Napster is than P2P. We don't intend to use the term
> "Napster fabbing" in any formal or commercial sense, or we would need
> Napster's permission to do so. We just thought it was a catchy phrase that
> would allow people to quickly get what we're talking about. People who say
> it's not Napster because it's not about music or because it's not a
> centralized index of downloadable files or because it doesn't (yet) have
> millions of people participating are missing the point. Of course it's not
> Napster. The point is that people are beginning to share digital designs of
> physical products, just as Napster users used to share music digitally.
>
> I certainly agree with you about the potential impact of this kind of
> capability as it becomes more readily available and more widely used. As
> fabbers improve in speed, materials, resolution, ease of use, and cost, they
> will increasingly circumvent the industrial manufacturing and distribution
> process, as you say. There's a discussion of this in the "Impact" section of
> my "Atoms from Bits" paper. (Search for the phrase "value chain" in
> http://www.ennex.com/publish/200010-MB-AtomsFromBits.sht.) These changes
> certainly will be resisted by companies that have been founded on the
> industrial paradigm, for example, most of the Fortune 500. But the new style
> of manufacturing will eventually be adopted by them, just as the record and
> movie companies are now starting to seriously address digital distribution
> of their wares. Eventually (decades from now) companies that don't adopt
> this style of manufacturing will be out of business, except for small niche
> players.
>
> We're in for an exciting century, wouldn't you say?
>
> Best regards,
> Marshall Burns
> President, Ennex Corporation
>
> Marshall@Ennex.com
> Los Angeles, USA, (310) 397-1314
> http://www.Ennex.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Brock Hinzmann" <bhinzmann@sric.sri.com>
> To: "Marshall Burns" <Marshall@Ennex.com>; "List: Rapid prototyping"
> <RP-ML@rapid.lpt.Fi>
> Sent: Friday, October 5, 2001 12:12
> Subject: RE: Update on Napster fabbing
>
> > Thanks, Marshall. It's good of you to take the time. I am surprised the
> numbers are that small, but it's an interesting sampling.
> > The term Napster fabbing has a nice sound to it, but Napster has a
> negative connotation. Now that I have looked at your Web site on this topic,
> I see that you are also using the term peer-to-peer, aka P2P. It has a
> broader meaning, beyond Napster and music and illegal copying of copyrighted
> material. P2P/Napster fabbing will be highly disruptive if it allows people
> the option of circumventing the normal manufacturing and distribution
> process. P2P is also a buzzword that venture capitalists recognize and
> should help get their attention.
> > By any name, Napster fabbing will be resisted by many large corporations,
> as Napster was. By disintermediating the middleman, however, it is a concept
> that truly takes advantage of the Internet/Web technology, as opposed to the
> failed dot-com concepts we have seen. On the other hand, it will raise the
> importance of intellectual property right protection, privacy, and
> eventually, payment systems.
> > Brock Hinzmann
> >
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://rapid.lpt.fi/rp-ml/

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://rapid.lpt.fi/rp-ml/



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