The Economist has two articles showing the lighter side of piracy, reveal how media and software companies are using file-sharing systems to help their businesses.

Music companies find out which bands are popular using file-sharing statistics tracked by companies like BigChampagne.  These statistics help decide tour locations and target advertising dollars.

Movie and TV companies are using file-sharing statistics from BigChampagne to set advertising rates for online video sites like Hulu.

Software also benefits, as Bill Gates says “It’s easier for our software to compete with Linux when there’s piracy than when there’s not.”  90 percent of PCs in China use Windows from mostly pirated sources. Gates recognizes long term revenue increases from loyal Microsoft users than if the company fought piracy, pushing companies to free alternatives.

While admitting piracy helps their businesses, these companies continue to fight file-sharing in every possible way.  Piracy needs to stop being scapegoated, but rather embraced as a competitor - something to learn from and beat at its own game.

[Via Against Monopoly]

Mother stopped telling me to be a doctor and started getting me programming lessons.  From 1993 to 2006, Bill Gates topped the Forbes 400 as the richest man around, at one time having assets worth over $100 billion.  His company, Microsoft, has depreciated significantly after the dot com bubble burst, but Gates is no less a power house representing the epitome of geek revenge - success.  Gates has a dream job building a monster company from the ground up.  He was so wrapped up in building Microsoft, he took an multi-decade leave of absence from Harvard.  His billion dollar company, however controversial, is a geek playground from operating systems to online software to video game consoles and expanding.  Bill Gates is the geek we all hope to become.  His wife’s hot too.