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To: Selectric II who wrote (44684)	7/19/2001 12:03:32 AM
From: kumar	Respond to of 54805

I agree. I have a Comcast service that gives me sports played by local teams, CNN, CNBC and a bunch more that I dont watch. I just returned by digital set top box, to save $10 per month. cheers, kumar

To: Selectric II who wrote (44684)	7/19/2001 2:01:28 AM
From: tinkershaw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Tinker, I'm a Comcast customer and set-top boxes aren't necessary for either regular or premium service. Unless one wants the super-premiums e.g. pay-per view, HBO, etc., Haven't a clue myself. I just upgraded to digital cable and I find it quite the pain actually in comparison to what I had. Sure I have a lot more channels, but none of the new channels are anything I'd watch. The set-top box reduces the utility of my VCR. Currently if I'm recording I cannot watch another channel at the same time + if I do a timer recording I must keep the set-top box to the same channel that I want to record. So actually it offers me less, but it is tossing in what looks to be a non-Gemstar guide that is somewhat klunky in comparison. So in that regard I completely agree. What digital does bring, if your one of the vast minority to have a fully interactive set (and there are only a few million of them in the States at best) are more interactive features that consumer studies say are highly desirable by consumers and that consumers have a hard time going back once they have them. So in this regard, I'm only speaking from news from Liberate. Their revenues are growing nicely, even in a slowing environment, cable companies are announcing enormous roll-outs (even if AT&T had to pair back its initial plans) and there is a lot of activity in the sector. I think somewhere there appears to be a large audience of people who like this stuff. So when I brought up the subject of Liberate it was because the momentum that seems to be slowly but surely arising around the company surprised me as I would have thought a few more years necessary because like you guys I don't see much advantage in regard (except that it came bundled with Internet access over a cable modem for a better price than regular cable + DSL would be so I went for it). Tinker Hey, I don't have a CDMA phone either, nor a cellular phone at all, but doesn't stop me from thinking QCOM may still be the greatest thing since sliced bread; heck I have a 266 Mhz laptop and still think RDRAM will dominate someday. But of those sort of products the two I'm most likely to buy in the coming months or years (assuming I don't hit Chapter 11 as we go through the coming Great Depression - Lord help us it is negative out there) would be (1) Cellular phone with 2.5G wireless support, and (2) CDMA or GSM Phone. A new RDRAM system or digital interactive cable would not be as high on my list these days. Then again Pokemon never scored with me, and it took me forever to get over the loss of my hexadecimal freedom to get rid of the Apple monitor program, and premature DOS to accede and get trapped by that dreaded Windows stuff. Of course now I don't think I could go back if I tried. But to conclude these ramblings, it does seem to me that Liberate products are doing more than just going into digital set-top boxes, they seem to be, becoming the core enabling software for cable networks to deliver interactive services. As such you have a potential phenomenon maybe approaching the bowling alley, its enabling, and their may or may not be high switching costs. But certainly worth a look even if we personally are not too enthralled at the moment. P.P.S. Certain supposed killer apps are things like instant messaging while watching a program, e-mail on the set, t-commerce functionality, and true video on demand, not just this video on demand at specified time intervals. This stuff is just rolling out and the digital set-top box I have has problems just with video on demand and with the IPG. But I'm willing to give the market a chance, as consumer studies indicate it provides value, and coldly analyze it by the numbers as gorilla gamers should.