For centuries, “ownership” has been a legal concept, en**force**d by well, … force, whether legal or arbitrary. It’s also been a central theme in the Industrial Revolution and the emancipation of people worldwide. For better or worse, everything around us is “owned”, from land to music or from animals (pets or cattle) to companies.
Wikipedia’s definition of ownership is interesting:
Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible.
Over the last few years, it has become obvious that software is shining a new light on “ownership”. For example, even though I “own” a Sonos speaker in my home, to use it, I need to install an application on my phone that is fully controlled by Sonos Inc. Similarly, a few years ago, Apple “forced” a U2 song on every device, showing that the control and ownership of Apple’s devices is, at best, shared between Apple and their customers.
You may own the “hardware,” but very often, you do not own the software, only a license to use it, and that distinction is at the root of many of the tech challenges of the next few years.
Over the next few weeks, ownership and software will be a central theme for this newsletter; subscribe now if you want to learn more!