I think you better take it easy on that holiday, elmat. Don't hurt yourself. Your point about content providers wanting bandwidth to be free, and networkers wanting content to be free reminded me of UUnet's Sidgemore at a conference a while back. He stated that software should be free, while Gates position was that bandwidth should be free. And there were a few other bubbly things that he had to say that were characteristic of the time. Wow, that was only a little over a year ago ...
internetnews.com
Sidgmore: Broadband Must Be Mobile
By Charles Bermant
04/06/00
Internet VC Watch Correspondent
[Los Angeles] Now that broadband is finally coming on the scene, MCI Worldcom Vice Chairman John Sidgmore said the next big challenge is to make it affordable.
"These are wild and exciting times," Sidgmore said in a Thursday afternoon keynote at Spring Internet World 2000.
"You can't come up with the right adjectives to describe it. Combined with the changes on Wall Street, the Internet has impacted the world like nothing before."
Sidgemore's speech amplified points made by previous speakers by underscoring the importance of broadband in the equation.
"As broadband is deployed we will see a huge change in demand, an explosion of video," he said. "As these broad pipes open at both ends there will be tremendous changes to voice and the Internet. People naturally interact with voice in a more dramatic way, and the next wave of active messaging will be based on things that are important to you."
According to Sidgmore, "intelligent browsers" and software agents will be able to anticipate and accomplish individual tasks. For instance, you could be on the way to the airport when a flight is delayed, The software agents make you aware of the change as it books a later flight and saves you from wasting time.
Sidgemore took some shots at Microsoft Corp., first expressing gratitude for the company's interaction with the DOJ. "If it weren't for them, we'd be the most hated company in the Department of Justice." He then used the Microsoft chairman to illustrate one of his arguments: "Bill Gates thinks bandwidth should be free. We think software should be free."
"While it's standard to charge $20 a month for standard unlimited service, we can't offer broadband at that price," he said. "Right now it costs us more to bill you for the service than for the service itself. That doesn't mean the service should be free, we just need to find a better way to bill over the Internet."
Sidgmore pointed out the equalizing effect of the Internet, which allows small companies to compete on a large field. "This can't slow down," he said. "The Internet is where all the capital is going - not just he money, but the intellectual capital. The Internet is where all the best and brightest want to work, and is where tens of thousands of smart entrepreneurs are creating new business models and implementing new ideas."
"This is the greatest explosion of information technology and new ideas in history," he said. "In 50 years, people will look back at this time as the golden era of communication, where everything changed. We are lucky to be here, and it doesn't get any better than this." |
