1/22 必読記事・論考(IT)

Business Week 1/31/05 Linux Inc. Linus Torvalds once led a ragtag band of software geeks. Not anymore. Here's an inside look at how the unusual Linux business model increasingly threatens Microsoft
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_05/b3918001_mz001.htm
NYT 1/20/05 Behold the Artful Price Tag, As it goes, corporate America recognizes design as a point of difference, a sales edge, an emotional connection to buyers. (iPod Shuffle)
Behold the Artful Price Tag - The New York Times

In a conversation on Monday, Jonathan Ive, the company's vice president for industrial design, described Apple's newest generation of designs less by how they look than what he termed "a whole new level of access to the product."

Eric Chan, the founder and president of Ecco Design, whose clients include Best Buy and Toyota, said: "Design has become a commodity now, and the price has to come down. Even the Chinese are shipping us pretty reasonable design." On the ability of design to command a premium or drive a business, Mr. Chan added: "Coolness is overhyped. Apple was smart enough to do the high end first and then come down to this and connect both points. The new economy won't make money from the rich. Look at IM messages. It's a huge market on nickels and dimes on every minute."

Links between real and virtual economies

Economist 1/20/05 A model economy, Should links between real and virtual economies be encouraged or banned?

For many years, game items such as swords or gold have been traded online: virtual objects are sold for real money to the tune of at least $100m a year. But the links between real and virtual economies are now becoming far more elaborate.
Last month, a “Project Entropia” player paid the game's creators $26,500 for an island in the game's virtual world. (He hopes to recoup the money through mining and selling plots to other players.) This month, an “Ultima Online” player set up a scheme to let players donate items and currency to raise money for tsunami relief. Currency exchanges even allow gamers to move funds from one game to another.
Not everyone approves: some games ban the sale of game items, a few encourage it, but most turn a blind eye. But the sale of the “Project Entropia” island, and the popularity of “World of Warcraft”, a game launched in November which bans the sale of in-game items, highlight an emerging split, says Edward Castronova, an expert on virtual economies at Indiana University.

http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3577988
Edward Castronova, Associate Professor of Telecommunications, Indiana University
http://mypage.iu.edu/~castro/home.html

I specialize in the study of synthetic worlds: massively multi-user spaces on the internet. People in these worlds create virtual items to use there – magic wands and whatnot – and they’ve begun buying and selling them on eBay. eBay’s category 1654, 'Internet Games' includes most of the non-Asian trade in virtual items and currency, and as you can see, this is a very active market. (If you are not familiar with virtual item trading, please see this introduction.)

http://video-games.listings.ebay.com/Internet-Games_W0QQfclZ3QQfcoZ1QQsacatZ1654QQsocmdZListingItemList
http://mypage.iu.edu/%7Ecastro/VirtualItemTrading.html
Articles download
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=277893
Data
http://mypage.iu.edu/%7Ecastro/home.html#Data

S.F.Giants選手年俸

http://www.econ.ucdavis.edu/graduate/sdshelby/giants/

[My Team Payroll Analysis: the salaries of the current projected 25-man opening day roster (previous edition on November 4th):
SP: Schmidt $6.25M, Rueter $5M, Tomko $2.65, Williams $0.4, Lowry $0.33
RP: Benitez $2.5M, Herges $1.5M, Eyre $1.425M, Brower $1.125M, Christiansen $1M, Franklin $0.38M, Walker $0.35M
C: Matheny $1M, Torrealba $0.7M
IF: Alfonzo $6.5M, Durham $6.5M, Vizquel $2.5M, Feliz $2.25M, Snow $2M, Cruz $0.8M
OF: Bonds $20M, Alou $7.25M, Grissom $2.5M, Tucker $2M, Ellison $0.31M
The salaries of this roster sum to $77.25M (with $5M of Bonds’ salary and $2.5M of Alou’s salary deferred). In addition, the Giants are paying almost $9.25M in signing bonuses this year (Schmidt $2.5M, Rueter $2M, Benitez $1.6M, Matheny $0.5M, Alfonzo $1M, Durham $1M, Feliz $0.2M). Alternatively, if you use pro-rated signing bonuses, the Giants total about $11.55M (Schmidt $1.94M, Rueter $1.5M, Benitez $2.47M, Matheny $1M, Alfonzo $1M, Durham $0.975M, Vizquel $0.58M, Feliz $0.1M, Bonds $2). The common definition of payroll is “salaries plus pro-rated signing bonuses,” making the Giants’ payroll almost $89M.]

「Benitez, Herges, Eyre, Brower, Christiansen, Franklin, Walker」ではちょっと弱いな。ブルペンにもう一人どうしても欲しいが、総額が$89Mになっているとさらなる補強は無理かも。Spring Trainingに入って他チームからリリースされた投手と安くマイナー契約するか、シーズンに入る直前でのトレードか、あるいは若手Aardsmaを抜擢するか。

Epstein's assistants are young, educated, intrepid -- and the foundation of the Red Sox organization

Boston.com 1/21/05 Inside jobs
http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2005/01/21/inside_jobs/

One majored in history at Wesleyan University. One studied psychology at Harvard. One pursued American studies at Colby College. One elected Russian studies and political science, also at Colby.
One managed two hits off future Anaheim Angel Jarrod Washburn as a sophomore at Wesleyan. One had a .301 career average for the Crimson. One began at Colby as an "OK field, no hit" infielder, took up pitching, and won nine games. One tried out for the varsity at Weymouth South High as a junior and was told "I'd made the team, but that I was never going to play."
One grew up in Plymouth, N.H., one in Swampscott, one in Walpole, N.H., the other in Weymouth, all fans of the Boston Red Sox. (略)
They're an intrepid group, all between ages 28 and 33. (略)
They work until 7 most nights, sometimes until 2 a.m., sometimes all night. They are representative of the zeitgeist that now pervades Major League Baseball: young, analytical, and armed with broad skill sets. (略)
Meet Jed Hoyer, Peter Woodfork, Galen Carr, and Brian O'Halloran. Each played a vital, if muted, role in putting the Sox in position to win the World Series, though they'd have you believe otherwise. (略)
The reality, though, is that they have Epstein's ear on day-to-day, major league matters. And, along with assistant GM Josh Byrnes, director of player development Ben Cherington, and director of minor league administration Raquel Ferreira, they form Epstein's immediate circle of trust.

• Jed Hoyer, Birthdate: 12/7/73 Title: Assistant to the general manager
• Peter Woodfork, Birthdate: 10/16/76 Title: Director of baseball operations, assistant director of player development
• Galen Carr, Birthdate: 9/15/75 Title: Advance scouting director
• Brian O'Halloran Birthdate: 10/28/71 Title: Coordinator of Major League administrati

この4人は皆、将来のGM候補である。名前を記憶しておくことにしよう。