Why Hackers Are Good For Business

from the make-things-better,-make-users-happier dept

This theme is appearing a lot today... Wired Magazine has an article pointing out that companies should embrace those who "hack" their offerings. While Microsoft is freaking out about hackers modding the Xbox, TiVo has a rabid core of fans who are thrilled that TiVo has let them hack away on the device. Letting people take your product and make it better helps drive the demand for your product. It also open up new opportunites and markets that might not have been there before.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    Derek Kerton (profile), 3 Feb 2003 @ 1:25pm

    Hmmm... I'm not so sure, Mike

    Hacking also allows the hacker to circumvent the business model envisioned by the providing company. For example, Radio Shack had those ridiculous Cue Cats, which they offered for free, but cost money to produce. People who hacked them to use them as simple bar-code scanners, and didn't contribute to the business model that produced the free CueCat in the first place. The issuing companies lost $.

    As a consumer I'm not saying the hacking is wrong. People should be allowed to do anything they want with products they have purchased. I've hacked my Tivo, and recommend it. I would say, though, that the hacks may often conflict with the company's plan, so the company may try to prevent it, or at least not support it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    Mike (profile), 3 Feb 2003 @ 1:49pm

    Re: Hmmm... I'm not so sure, Mike

    Well, if the hacks conflict with a business model, then the company needs to reevaluate the business model.

    In the case of the cue cats, the hacks created a ton of new uses that a smart company would have tried to capitalize on. It was just that Digital Convergence was so blindly focused on their single business model that they got blind sided.

    If consumers are doing something that ruins your business model, it just means you picked the wrong business model. Consumers aren't going to change their behavious. You need to change yours.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    dorpus, 3 Feb 2003 @ 5:14pm

    Legal Nuances

    If the hacked product is used to do bad things, the manufacturer can be accused of complicity. So I don't think it's as simple as you describe.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.