Sunday, June 01, 2003

StartNet? Maybe "startnet". Matt Jones and his readers have kindly suggested a better brand for broadband: Permanet That's in response to an unlinked question by Bill Thompson (whose latest is the subject of the item below). Bill is looking for a better word for a fairly-fast, always-on connection. I want a word for the Net that's exactly what it was supposed to be in the first place: symmetrical, unfiltered, always-on and as wide as it needs to be. No blocked Port 80s. No DRM or other forms of filtration. One of the big lessons I learned from readers after Cluetrain came out was that real markets are places where the demand side also has the power to supply — and that amazing thing can happen, fast, when marketplaces aren't rigged to favor big suppliers. Think what it would do for entrepreneurship if the cable and DSL folks provided symmetrical connections, opened up Port 80 (so it would be easy for anybody to put a server on the Net), and otherwise allowed the Net to do what it was built to do, which is support both supply and demand from any point in the world of ends it comprises. It would be good for all business. Not just the big boys. Some archival background on the subject here, here, here and her and here. [The Doc Searls Weblog] 12:36:57 PM  comment []       Bill Gates on WiFi and quality service for audio and video D: Dinner With Bill Gates. .. This then led to WiFi. Gates said if you're designing products today, you're designing for WiFi and quality service for audio and video. They asked about the effect of WiFi on the way cell phone services are priced. Gates called cell phone service pricing "truly ridiculous." He posited that over the next five years WiFi will become very mainstream, a complement to how people get broadband. He mentioned that having another approach to delivery of wireless services probably is a good thing. They briefly discussed Microsoft's P2P chat and music app, Three Degrees. (Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either. Here are some reviews, etc. courtesy of Google.) General discussion of what's up with MSN, what services make it compelling. Gates mentioned projects to make files accessible on any machine, provide automatic back-ups and family scheduling (sounds very .Mac-y, to me). ... [Bag and Baggage] 7:51:30 AM  comment []       Bill Gates At D Bill Gates At D. ... Microsoft is also betting on mesh networks -- Gates believes that by spreading WiFi backhall among large numbers of clients, WiFi will facilitate broadband for everyone that may serve to replace cellular networks under many circumstances. Gates predicts mesh networks will be mainstream in the next 5 years and he's presumably already looking to build software to address the problems associated with the multiplicity of base stations. While I have a hard time seeing the mass market for Tablet PCs, I would not be one to quickly bet against Microsoft. And not just because of the incredibly size and market power Microsoft holds. But because of Bill Gates. He remains a powerful spokesman for the continued vibrance of technology. [VentureBlog] 7:34:33 AM  comment []       Understanding Optimism Understanding Optimism. There's a bit too much optimism going around these days. As David mentioned in his post from the Wall Street Journal conference, the Barry Dillers and Meg Whitmans of the world are feeling upbeat. And certainly the stock market has been rallying of late. It's important for entrepreneurs to dissect what's really going on. Recessions are unbalanced in how they hit business: strong companies may weaken but weak companies shut down. Similarly, recoveries are unbalanced and favor the established and strong. As consumers regain confidence, they spend their dollars first with the trusted brands they've known for awhile. And as is well known around the Valley, CIOs are going to continue to be leery about buying a box or piece of enterprise software from a start-up any time soon. So optimism abounds right now, which is much better than the alternative of the last few years. But start-up entrepreneurs should be sure not to misinterpret what the next few years will be about: the consolidation of power by many of the leading companies we see around us today. This does not mean that I think it's a bad time to start a company... I'm actually very bullish on early stage companies right now and we at August Capital are seeing many interesting new start-ups (and funding them). But the first rule of competing in a market is to understand the dynamics of that market and it's important to realize that it is still a much better time to be a big company than a small one. Picking the right markets to go after and the right entry strategies for those markets is more critical now than at any time in the cycle. [VentureBlog] 7:32:28 AM  comment []       new music new music. You're my JPEG Baby. [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog] 6:53:32 AM  comment []       4G not just for mobile phones 4G coming up. The Economist has an interesting article this week on "4G": Even as “third-generation” (3G) mobile networks are being switched on around the world, a couple of years later than planned, attention is shifting to what comes next: a group of newer technologies that are, inevitably, being called 4G. More hubris from the technology-obsessed industry? Not exactly. Some 4G networks are operating already, with more on the way. A technology once expected to appear around 2005 is here now. While, as opposed to 3G, there is no clear definition of what 4G is (as the article correctly notes), in general I've always heard of 4G considered in the context of mobile service (mobile in general, not just for mobile phones) that runs on a data backbone, and voice is considered just another kind of data to be transported, and using data transports end-to-end. Essentially, the IP backbone replacing the voice backbone of the operators which, besides from making a lot of sense (especially considering that after the bubble-burst there is a lot of backbone capacity just waiting to be used), should also prove to be more cost-effective, hopefully resulting in lower charges to end-users (note the mention in the article of flat-rate pricing). All things considered, it makes a lot of sense for '4G' to win over 3G, particularly if the operators can use the same spectrum licenses that they have obtained for 3G. Eventually there should be enough choice so that we can use cheaper (and possibly faster) connections when possible and let the connection speed/quality degrade gracefully as the infrastructure degrades (say, as you move out of the city). It's happening! Posted by Diego Doval Add Comment [Mobitopia] 5:52:54 AM  comment []

© Copyright 2003 Harold Gilchrist. Last update: 7/1/2003; 9:08:06 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.