web site (story)

<sub>a long time ago, in a very distant galaxy ... *
* oh, it seems that it was already somewhere ...</sub>

I looked at him expectantly, straightened my glasses, took my legs off the table and portrayed "you, of course, interrupted me, but I am ready to listen to what you want there."

“V-Vladimir,” the client introduced himself, slightly stuttering. - V-you here with sites r-razbatyvaete?

It seems that this time with the customer was lucky: he will be able to profitably sell any product. After waiting a couple of seconds to emphasize my weight and professionalism, I nodded affirmatively:
')
- Well, yes, I am. Alexander. Something can be useful?

“W-p-p-understand, m-I would have c-c-site ...”

With all of my appearance, I showed that I understand perfectly and even sympathize with his problem: of course, the site is a serious thing!

- Speech problems? - having sustained a small groove I took an interest, having decided to add a little participation and empathy in conversation.

- Y-yes n-n-no, p-p-just p-p-re-live.

“Oh, you should not worry at all,” at that moment I was admiring myself: sheer grace and politeness, “please, sit down, calm down, and now we will communicate with you and find the best solution that best suits your situation!”

Vladimir gratefully nodded, sitting down in the indicated chair as if he was sitting on an uncomfortable little chair, put his hands on his knees, looked at me, then on his case standing at his feet, pulled him closer to himself, then looked at me again. I was pleased: it is not often possible from the first seconds to make such a favorable impression on the customer.

* * *

Asking Galya to make coffee for both of us, I let the client calm down a bit and recover. If you need to know how the future site should look like, you should not keep the customer in a state “on the verge of losing consciousness”.

- So, what is your company doing, what site do you want? - it's time to start the usual procedure for collecting information.

- Our company is called "Pipe", we sell plumbing, - began chattering Vladimir. Immediately it is clear that he prepared this part in advance - we need a website that would have a product catalog, with the possibility of selection and order via the Internet, as well as contact information and various useful articles on specialized topics.

Vladimir reached for the case, opened it, extracted a file from which he took out several A4 sheets fastened with a stapler, and handed it to me:

- Here we have prepared some sketches of what and how we want.

To be honest, I was surprised. Most of the customers come to me without having the slightest idea of ​​what they need, and they say only something like: “we want a cool modern website”. And although some believe that working with such clients is hard, I do not agree. The less expectations and own vision, the more people are open to accept the concept that I can offer him. Well, let's see what awaits us in this case.

As I read the document, I casually glanced at the customer. Vladimir gradually began to squeeze into a chair and his former excitement returned to him - my expression did not foretell anything good for him. Perhaps it's time to voice your comments:

- Many people do not understand the whole mechanism of creating websites, and they don’t need it ... until the need to make their own comes. What do you think makes up the cost of developing and maintaining the site?

- Well ... the cost of inventing the concept, payment of work to designers, programmers, - began to list Vladimir. I felt a certain sympathy for the customer, he obviously belongs to a small group of “people thinking” among the dominant number of “people consuming” - then you will have to pay the costs for the fact that the site is on some server on the Internet, that it is assigned the name ...

“Everything you said was true only at the early stage of the development of the Internet, the so-called“ Wild Network ”, or, as the Americans say,“ Wild Wild Web ”. Many do not remember, but once even these three letters - “www” were added to the domain names. However, this did not last long. Soon the issue of copyright and intellectual property became acute. After all, nothing prevented people from taking other people's work and simply using them in their websites. Someone paid a lot of money for the concept and development, while others simply stole already existing ideas and implementation ...

Vladimir was curious to watch. On the one hand, he, while agreeing, nodded at my words, and on the other - he had a hopelessly hopeless facial expression, indicating the initial stage of understanding that not all the ideas of their company would succeed.

- In general, in short, today the cost of the site has two main components: the development of the idea and license fees. Yes, yes, you heard right, it is license fees. The fact is that creating a site so that it does not affect any patents at all is simply unrealistic. If only because no site can do without html tags that are the intellectual property of the W3C organization. But here you can not worry, thanks to the Law on Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory Licensing ( RIN , or according to international terminology [F] RAND ), the charge will be quite reasonable. It is, of course, tied to the average number of unique users, but rarely to whom it costs more than a hosting service.

With these words, I noticed that the client had lost an alarming expression, and he even relaxed a little in the chair. Vladimir calmed down early, early ...

- Some things are realized by simple licensing. Others are already much more expensive. And for certain to obtain permission to use, especially for such medium-sized sites like yours, it may be practically unrealistic. Let us, for example, take a look at your notes, and I will show in practice what is real, what is expensive, and what is unlikely to be implemented.

Vladimir nodded his agreement, and I continued:

- For example, you want to use links to navigate between the main sections of the site. But the use of links to move between sections is patented by Corridor Corporation. To get a license from them is real, but it will be quite expensive for small sites. I'm not talking about the use of pop-up menus, which, incidentally, are also the intellectual property of Corridor .

Judging by the lost glance of Vladimir, he clearly did not imagine the implementation of the site without pop-up menus and links, and tried to estimate the minimum amount that this venture would translate into.

- Or, you write: “the goods in the catalog are displayed with the help of square pictures with rounded corners ... the effect of mirror reflection is applied to it with its gradual disappearance”. Just think, in one sentence you decided to violate two patents of the Pineapple Company at once! Both the rounded corners, and the fading mirror image are their inviolable property, their unique style, which they do not allow anyone to use! Or right there: “when you bring the mouse pointer to the product image, its text description pops up, and when you click on the image, the product is added to the basket”. Two patents of the Pineapple Corporation are also violated here: “point-to-see” and “click-to-execute” ...

I took a breath, sustained a theatrical pause for effect, and continued:

“Well, animated banners are the intellectual property of Binoculars .” Although it is possible to agree with them, especially if it is shown that the income from their use will not exceed fifty thousand a year.

“Well, from the rounded corners ... and we can probably refuse such a method of adding to the basket,” Vladimir began, it seems, to move away from the shock.

I sighed heavily and continued:

- Well, I didn’t want to upset you right away, but pixel images, as such, are also patented by Noduck . They can issue a license to use, but it will cost much more than just html tags. Just want you to imagine the size of the required budget.

And, as a final blow, I handed out a price list with approximate prices for licensing various elements of the web page. It seems it finished off and broke Vladimir. Well, that means he's almost ready for my suggestions.

- And what would you advise me in this case? - as if confirming my thoughts, Vladimir asked.

- To begin with, your site will have a uniform background of some color.

- Can blue?

- Blue background is patented by “ Corridor ”, there is even such an expression - “BSoD”, which stands for “blue screen in design”.

- Then white?

- White and black patented " Pineapple ".

- Violet?

- He is for " Tea Mobile "

- Green?

- Hi-bun

- And what remains ???

- Red, brown, lime ... well, some more shades, - I tried to say it as reassuringly as possible, it was not enough for the client to get hysterical, - I, personally, suggest staying on dark brown.

Vladimir agreed nod. It seems that all his expectations have already broken, now you can safely give your options.

- If you want to save considerably and stop using raster (pixel) images, we can choose the so-called pseudographics. Fortunately, she was in the public domain for the statute of limitations.

Vladimir nodded again.

- Look, here with the help of pseudographic symbols we will draw you pipes, even the connection of pipes will be simply amazing! Then insert a link to the file with the price list - the right to links to files is also in the public domain. The only difficulty is contact details. The fact is that the representation of an email address as a link is patented by Pineapple , and the use of numbers for telephone numbers is by Nebesap , a subsidiary of Corridor Corporation. Therefore, I advise you to throw out e-mail altogether; But we will make the phone number large, on a third of the page, we will lay it out of the characters of pseudographics. Imagine: the pipes around, in the form of a frame, the upper third is the name of the pseudographic, in the center - a link to the price and the lower third - the phone! It will be just a masterpiece! ..

* * *

The appearance of the customer said that he did not care. He resignedly and passively signed the draft, the layout and all the necessary documents, somehow sluggishly and hopelessly said goodbye and left.

I felt sorry for Vladimir. It can be understood: a person just wanted a beautiful site for himself, “like the others,” and there are so many difficulties.

Of course, there are firms called by the people "Chinese" (hardly anyone remembers why). They shamelessly steal design elements from other sites, will be issued for the original design and will be sold, leaving the client to deal with the problems himself if his site falls into the field of view of lawyers of large companies.

But I imagine an office that values ​​its reputation, advocates for innovation and cannot afford to sink to such behavior. So to me, from a certain point of view, you can sympathize with no less than the client. After all, the entire burden of creating the original style falls on me.

Some of the developers believe that the current state of affairs is focused on innovation and stimulates the emergence of new ideas and products. Others, on the contrary, believe that this hinders progress and hinders the normal development of companies and the Internet, complicating the lives of end users. I always get away from such disputes: it's hard to take any particular side. But I am sure of one thing: the current state of copyright and patent legislation makes my work extremely difficult ... but also extremely high-paying! ..

* * *

I woke up from a noise like a knock. I looked around - I must have fallen asleep in the workplace. And dream the same! Such a realistic dream, and at the same time such a strange world ... Peripheral vision noted movement against the wall: the door to the room opened slightly, and the head hesitantly poked through the gap, looking for someone's eyes. This head seemed familiar to me, but attempts to remember where we could already meet, failed. Then I realized that my appearance did not correspond to the solidity of the situation, quickly adjusted the glasses that had slipped on my nose during sleep, removed my legs from the table, and mumbled: “OK, let's write like this” quickly ran his fingers over the keyboard. Then he looked at the man again and nodded his head in the affirmative. The stranger opened the door wider, uncertainly went.

“V-Vladimir,” he said, slightly stuttering. - V-you here with sites r-razbatyvaete? ..

_{Alexander Yazvetsky, August 2012, CC BY NC SA 3.0 Unported License} .