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4 . 19. 1999

Internet business news and analysis. by Dylan Tweney

Consumers, unite!

ONLINE MULTIMEDIA seemed to be the most interesting theme at Internet World in Los Angeles last week. To make multimedia over the Internet really work well, the average user's bandwidth has to increase. Widespread broadband Internet access is getting closer, and that may be what's spurring this renaissance of multimedia. Software vendors can hardly wait to start selling applications to soak up all that bandwidth. Witness Microsoft, which announced Windows Media 4.0, the latest version of their streaming audio and video player [1,2]. Too bad no major record labels have yet jumped on Microsoft's bandwagon.

IBM and Real Networks may have a better chance; they teamed up this week to debut IBM's Electronic Music Management System, an online music distribution system (with copyright controls, naturally) that the major record labels will begin testing later this year [3].

Hardware vendors love multimedia, too, especially when it requires us to buy new hardware in order to experience it. Maybe that's why Intel senior VP Sean Maloney was banging the 3-D drum in his keynote at Internet World, showing how users could rotate the three-dimensional image of a sound machine from Sharper Image on their screens -- or use massive processing power to display Excite search results as a 3-D map [4]. Useful? Hardly. The great advantage of 2-D displays are that they're simpler and faster to negotiate than 3-D; that's why I shop online instead of at the mall.

Oh, and then there was Creative Technologies' new Nomad, a tiny silver MP-3 player, with FM tuner and the ability to *record* voice dictation, then upload it to your computer for transcription by voice recognition software [5,6]. This thing is one sexy little consumer electronics device. Also, I suppose, not terribly useful. But I'll admit it -- I succumbed, and actually bought one on the show floor. But more about that next week, in my Net Prophet column.

[1] Microsoft goes to battle with Windows Media

[2] Microsoft Windows Media 4.0 site, with beta software

[3] IBM, RealNetworks to make music over Net

[4] Intel exec shows company's e-commerce brawn

[5] Creative Labs to sell portable MP3 player

[6] Creative's Nomad site

----------

FEEDBACK LOOP: Several of you have written with passionate comments pro and con about the Cluetrain Manifesto, which I recently discussed [7,8]. Mark Hurst <mark@creativegood.com> took exception to my suggestion that ordinary people want to use the Net to form communities. An excerpt from our e-mail exchange:

MARK: many of them DON'T WANT to use the net to talk, play, collaborate, or hang out. not because (as many marketers say) the customer is stupid or lazy -- far from it -- rather, the customer "has a life" already, and it ain't online. they have careers, kids, friends in RL, hobbies, clubs that DO NOT revolve around the net ... in the end, it's a simple, quick customer experience that customers want -- not a utopian vision of a compelling, collaborative online future.

DYLAN: If anything, I suspect many people today *don't* have a life, or at least the kind of life they'd like to have. Modern life, as I have noticed, is not very conducive to meeting other people. We spend so much time in cars, apartments, cubicles, etc. The net has great potential to connect people, locally as well as globally, and that is in fact happening to a large extent already.

MARK: ...just the basics of getting involved with the community are t-o-o h-a-r-d for the average Net user. ... for the great majority of users, the net is a medium of *convenience*, not a medium of personal growth.

so while lots of communities will spring up and thrive, the vast MAJORITY, talking percentage-wise, of the net user base, will not get involved. and this will disprove many of the utopian theories that everyone from kevin kelly's camp have been talking about for a long time.

ANOTHER RESPONSE, from Colin Sullivan < JOSULLIVAN@fordham.edu>:

It's too bad that companies suppress their gritty, interesting stories and cover them with annual report-like language. It's too bad for the media who cover the companies and it's too bad for the PR people who try to "help" uncover the interesting stories. ...
No doubt, the legions of PR people who assault you on a daily basis do little for the profession's credibility. How would I bring about industry change? It's easy. Start a trend in the profession that requires the reading of short fiction --Carver, Debus, Coover, Cheever, Updike, Welty, plus billions of others--, not because PR needs to learn how to craft better fiction (that's probably not a problem!!). PR needs to know how to spot a good story and how to tell it.

[7] Get a clue!

[8] Companies get a clue about the Net: It's not just business as usual

Plus: NET PROPHET: Consumers, unite!

~ Back issues ~

Commerce reigns at Spring Internet World - privacy legislation - online wine - Not just business as usual (4.12.1999)

Internet war - push off a cliff - Amazon auctions - Internetworking and a swarm of WASPs (4.5.1999)

The whole dang archive...

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Links worth clicking

cluetrain.com
Net market manifesto - read it!

tbtf
Tasty bits from the technology front

ditherati
Deflating industry bombast daily

posthoc.com
Upfront guide to San Francisco - way cool!

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copyright (c) 1998-1999 tweney media
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	home \| latest news \| back issues \| who is dylan? \| contact 4 . 19. 1999 Internet business news and analysis. by Dylan Tweney Consumers, unite! ONLINE MULTIMEDIA seemed to be the most interesting theme at Internet World in Los Angeles last week. To make multimedia over the Internet really work well, the average user's bandwidth has to increase. Widespread broadband Internet access is getting closer, and that may be what's spurring this renaissance of multimedia. Software vendors can hardly wait to start selling applications to soak up all that bandwidth. Witness Microsoft, which announced Windows Media 4.0, the latest version of their streaming audio and video player [1,2]. Too bad no major record labels have yet jumped on Microsoft's bandwagon. IBM and Real Networks may have a better chance; they teamed up this week to debut IBM's Electronic Music Management System, an online music distribution system (with copyright controls, naturally) that the major record labels will begin testing later this year [3]. Hardware vendors love multimedia, too, especially when it requires us to buy new hardware in order to experience it. Maybe that's why Intel senior VP Sean Maloney was banging the 3-D drum in his keynote at Internet World, showing how users could rotate the three-dimensional image of a sound machine from Sharper Image on their screens -- or use massive processing power to display Excite search results as a 3-D map [4]. Useful? Hardly. The great advantage of 2-D displays are that they're simpler and faster to negotiate than 3-D; that's why I shop online instead of at the mall. Oh, and then there was Creative Technologies' new Nomad, a tiny silver MP-3 player, with FM tuner and the ability to record voice dictation, then upload it to your computer for transcription by voice recognition software [5,6]. This thing is one sexy little consumer electronics device. Also, I suppose, not terribly useful. But I'll admit it -- I succumbed, and actually bought one on the show floor. But more about that next week, in my Net Prophet column. [1] Microsoft goes to battle with Windows Media [2] Microsoft Windows Media 4.0 site, with beta software [3] IBM, RealNetworks to make music over Net [4] Intel exec shows company's e-commerce brawn [5] Creative Labs to sell portable MP3 player [6] Creative's Nomad site ---------- FEEDBACK LOOP: Several of you have written with passionate comments pro and con about the Cluetrain Manifesto, which I recently discussed [7,8]. Mark Hurst <mark@creativegood.com> took exception to my suggestion that ordinary people want to use the Net to form communities. An excerpt from our e-mail exchange: MARK: many of them DON'T WANT to use the net to talk, play, collaborate, or hang out. not because (as many marketers say) the customer is stupid or lazy -- far from it -- rather, the customer "has a life" already, and it ain't online. they have careers, kids, friends in RL, hobbies, clubs that DO NOT revolve around the net ... in the end, it's a simple, quick customer experience that customers want -- not a utopian vision of a compelling, collaborative online future. DYLAN: If anything, I suspect many people today don't have a life, or at least the kind of life they'd like to have. Modern life, as I have noticed, is not very conducive to meeting other people. We spend so much time in cars, apartments, cubicles, etc. The net has great potential to connect people, locally as well as globally, and that is in fact happening to a large extent already. MARK: ...just the basics of getting involved with the community are t-o-o h-a-r-d for the average Net user. ... for the great majority of users, the net is a medium of convenience, not a medium of personal growth. so while lots of communities will spring up and thrive, the vast MAJORITY, talking percentage-wise, of the net user base, will not get involved. and this will disprove many of the utopian theories that everyone from kevin kelly's camp have been talking about for a long time. ANOTHER RESPONSE, from Colin Sullivan < JOSULLIVAN@fordham.edu>: It's too bad that companies suppress their gritty, interesting stories and cover them with annual report-like language. It's too bad for the media who cover the companies and it's too bad for the PR people who try to "help" uncover the interesting stories. ... No doubt, the legions of PR people who assault you on a daily basis do little for the profession's credibility. How would I bring about industry change? It's easy. Start a trend in the profession that requires the reading of short fiction --Carver, Debus, Coover, Cheever, Updike, Welty, plus billions of others--, not because PR needs to learn how to craft better fiction (that's probably not a problem!!). PR needs to know how to spot a good story and how to tell it. [7] Get a clue! [8] Companies get a clue about the Net: It's not just business as usual Plus: NET PROPHET: Consumers, unite! ~ Back issues ~ Commerce reigns at Spring Internet World - privacy legislation - online wine - Not just business as usual (4.12.1999) Internet war - push off a cliff - Amazon auctions - Internetworking and a swarm of WASPs (4.5.1999) The whole dang archive...		Join my free mailing list! Just enter your email address in the box below and click the button: Email: Optional - your name: -
			*Links worth clicking* cluetrain.com Net market manifesto - read it! tbtf Tasty bits from the technology front ditherati Deflating industry bombast daily posthoc.com Upfront guide to San Francisco - way cool!

	- copyright (c) 1998-1999 tweney media - home \| latest news \| back issues \| who is dylan? \| contact