Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : LAST MILE TECHNOLOGIES - Let's Discuss Them Here -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: lml who wrote (7303)	6/13/2000 12:28:00 PM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12823

lml- I almost knew what you were driving at in advance, but didn't want to jump to conclusions without asking you first. It is very interesting speculating on the 'future' of where this is all heading and I did think this is what you were referring to. I completely agree with your comment about, "certain to change." No doubt about that. I'm not sure if you caught the GG comments upstream. I can't quite recall who posted them. But they went along the lines of, "Broadcast TV is a waste. It will be dead. The explosion of bandwidth will kill the current advertising model, etc.." Remember I'm paraphrasing but I think I have the gist. I'm still pondering his comments. What really drives the billion dollar/day spending on telecommunications infrastructure? I know one answer(within the US only) is the $5,000,000,000,000 we consumers manage to spend on durable and non-durable goods and services. Or is it $6 trillion? I can't quite recall. But it's a LOT of money. And it's very important to connect the sellers with the buyers eyeballs and ears. And that is where the Internet steps in and changes everything. You say the ISP will have control over consumers eyeballs and ears. Maybe you are correct? But it's hard for me to believe that any ISP will be allowed to control our online experience. If they don't allow us complete freedom to access hundreds of millions of content sites, we won't be their customer. So I'm not quite sure how they would go about...oh I see. I re-read your post. You say the ISP won't control our experience, we will choose to view what they broadcast because it will have compelling content. In other words, it's by choice....interesting idea and I have to ponder some more before making any further comments. -MikeM(From Florida)

To: lml who wrote (7303)	6/15/2000 7:03:00 AM
From: MikeM54321	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 12823

Re: Continuation of-- What's an ISP Worth? lml- On the FCTF thread, Jay brought up an interesting concept directly related to our conversation about the importance of an ISP. Before I comment on that, let me see if I understand what you and I are saying first. I am sort of seeing ISPs as simply another part of the broadband pipe. Just a bunch of routers, servers, software, and fiber all tossed in with some real estate. My point of view-- they are indistinguishable from the SP. But you are making the fine argument that they are more than this. Because ISP either owns or have the distribution rights of compelling content. Content that they alone can provide to their particular subs who write them their monthly checks, increases their value and will draw the customer to write that particular ISP a monthly check. As I said, my counter argument is, what makes their pipe so unique. Just because their customer writes them a monthly check, this does not make the ISP eligible to deliver their compelling content, only to their customer. Because of the Internet, it's an entirely new ball game. Content can be delivered from hundreds of millions of sites. All it takes(I know this is an understatement) is a high speed connection to a server and a place to put it. This used to be called, in the old days, a broadcast studio. But you say again, the ISP will control the compelling content and it won't be distributed freely. And I say, "good point." __________ Well now, comes this little brainstorm by the startup called, "recordTV." Think of it as a direct replacement for your VCR. But put the VCR in a building housing a server farm, connect a big fat pipe to it, and what do you have? A LOT of content suddenly able to be distributed freely to anyone who wants it, whenever they want it, all over the world. I don't believe for a minute that what record.TV is doing will hold up in court. Taping a show for your neighbor and handing over the VCR tape is one thing, but taping everything, for everyone, and distributing electronically is an entirely new, and very likely, illegal scenario. But for arguments sake, let's assume it was not illegal. Let's say it's legal. The pipe is BIG. And it actually WORKS. Big assumptions I know, but supposedly that is where telecommunications infrastructure is taking us. So doesn't this model completely eliminate the importance of the ISP's connection to their particular customers eyeballs/ears? Thanks. -MikeM(From Florida)