7 Reasons not to disable Right Click on Browsers

Sites disabling normal functions within the browser such as right click, copy, paste, selection etc. have the following faulty thinking.

Most of their visitors are there to copy their content.

1. This is more likely to turn visitors away as it interferes with their normal use of a common application.
2. It creates a negative image of the company (suspicious and non trusting).
3. It inconveniences the majority for a potential transgression by a small percentage of visitors.

Those who want to copy their content now cannot.

1. Most scrapers can easily bypass the above restrictions.
2. Users intent on copying can easily get the source code and extract what they want.
3. Covering for all browser types and their versions is not worth the effort.
4. Since most methods involve javascript, disabling scripts usually bypasses this or breaks the site.

It is like a shopkeeper asking each shopper to go through a security check before entering their shop. All it does is turn away visitors and can lead to potential losses rather than any of the perceived gains.

The blocking process creates a very negative image of the site and company and causes loss of brand value. After all the site is there for a purpose, not exactly to post one's trade secrets but to promote the business.

P.S. Came across a more detailed view from 2002 at Sitepoint by Rosemary Wise. Amazing that the problem still exists seven years later.

The larger Nano issues

As mentioned in my earlier post, if it succeeds, Nano will be a major business triumph making them Tata the dominant car manufacturer replacing Maruti.

Tata has officially launched the Nano as the world's cheapest commercial car. This is expected to lead to a rise in car ownership in India. It is considered beneficial if one is to believe the media hype surrounding it.

As with all issues, the Nano launch will have its pros and cons, its supporters and critics.

The pros

1. An affordable car to a larger population base in a country where transport facilities overall are very poor.
2. Greater mobility as a car can carry more people over longer distances, also it is less tiring as it is compared to riding a bike.
3. All households having an income enought to afford two bikes will now afford a car.
4. It helps leverage the advantage of the improving inter city transport infrastructure (albeit slowly)
5. With a larger car owning population, the government will be under more pressure to ensure good infrastructure (hopefully)
   

The cons

1. The demand for fuel will go up significantly if the car is a major hit across the country.
2. The number of road fatalities will go up what with an already poor record at current traffic volumes.
3. The poor won't have much benefit except maybe a little less strain on public transport.
4. The generally poor infrastructure and endemic corruption in corporations will mean that urban India will have more traffic stress.
5. Cities will suffer additional traffic congestion.
6. Traffic pooling, though nice in theory, is unlikely as people who buy a Nano won't keep it at home.

I might have missed a few obvious ones in both of the above. For me, as of now the cons outnumber the pros.

Nano - Tata bid to capture Indian Car Market

Though one does not know the actual cost breakup of the Nano, it is likely that Ratan Tata won't mind selling it at a slight loss. In spite of all the hype about nation building, this is a purely business decision.

• Manufacture low end product and deliver to capture market even if at an initial loss.
• Move up the value chain using the leverage as the dominant car manufacturer.

Tata already has some penetration on the car segment through its Indica series. The Nano will strongly challenge Maruti's long hold as the numero uno car manufacturer. If it succeeds, Ratan Tata deserves full credit from a business perspective as he was willing to take that risk.

In the next post, I will look at some of the pros and cons of the Nano for India as a whole

Extending Google search with Webmynd

Makeuseof.com has suggested a few tools for extending Google search results. Webmynd seems the most interesting of the lot. Its integration with other search tools including Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, wikipedia and others makes it hard to ignore. Add the ability to tweet directly to Twitter and that just makes my day.

I am one going on two

This Sunday will be a special occasion as it is my son Ishaan's 2nd birthday. As a thumb rule, my doctor told me, it is 'walking by one' and 'talking by two' give or take a month or two.

So, finally I am, since the last month or so, having a legible conversation with my son. It is restricted to 3-4 word sentences and slowly building up a sequence of these to get across a point. It can all of a sudden revert to baby jargon at any point if something catches his interest enough to distract him.

It makes one think, language is such an amazing gift in human society and so taken for granted.

Rank checking tool

SEOBook has come up with another useful SEO tool. The new Rank checking tool for Firefox helps checking rankings for Google, Yahoo and Live search engines. It allows searching for multiple keywords. Also group keywords using the Presets feature. All in all looks like a very useful tool for a quick ranking lookup or an indepth one as desired.

You only live twice

Chemical Ali gets 3rd death sentence. Again proves the law is an ass. The judge could just have confirmed an earlier death sentence. Or are they planning to kill him 3 times?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq