Random Sampler: Being like Google, JBoss worth the wait, and more

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So many good stories, so little time....Here are a few of the best posts today:

• You might not be able to get Google-like profits, but at least you can treat your employees more like how Google treats its own employees. There's a good lesson in there....


• Most of the music on the iPods of UK youth has been pilfered. Surprising? No. There are two interesting factoids in the data, however:
  1. "80% of those who admit to illegally file-sharing are prepared to engage with a legal file-sharing service, and place a considerable monetary value on it"; and
  2. The older people get, the more they pay for music. 55 percent of youth aged 14 to 17 illegally download music, jumping to 60 percent when they're aged 18 to 24, but dropping down to 39 percent when aged 25 and above.
  Does this mean that "old fogey" music is more likely to be monetized than Britney Spears?


• The next version of JBoss has been significantly delayed, but Red Hat insists the delay will be worth it as it invests heavily in updating and refactoring the code: "We are better off [than rivals] because we bit the bullet - everything will interoperate."


• Nokia suggests that the open-source community can learn from businesses, in particular how to take a conciliatory approach to resolving complex business problems (like DRM). Worth reading.


• Michael Tiemann argues that user-generated innovation, a la open source, is a more sustainable model for software development than proprietary software. It's a useful read if you're prone to thinking that individuals qua individuals are weak.