July 28th, 2004
Digital convergence, RSS and rights management
Comcast’s second-quarter results offer a fascinating snapshot of where user preferences are trending in the broadband market. With DSL maxing out at much slower download and similar upload speeds, customers are switching to cable for high-speed access. I just took advantage of a six-month offer at $20 a month. But at the same time, I’m sticking with satellite video service from Dish Network, primarily because Comcast does not yet offer DVR services. Ironically, the phone company here (SBC) is offering Dish service for new customers, while Comcast moves into VoIP. When six months roll by, it may be time to switch again, as Comcast may likely have both DVR and HDTV channels for local access, something Dish is now trailing in.
Meanwhile TiVo unveiled DVD burning facilities, leveraging the robust data storage requirements for HDTV as well as TiVo’s expansion beyond broadcast and cable offerings to so-called “pure” broadband programming.
When RSS converges with this trending toward more Web-based programming, it will be time once again to reevaluate broadband suppliers. RSS will be the filtering and program guide technology for an entire spectrum offerings.
As Dan Farber reports from OSCon: O’Reilly said that the open source community needs to "Napsterize" the calendar, address book and other social software to prevent ownership of personal data by a single entity.
We will need an open, peer-to-peer standard so that no single entity controls user data or access to content via onerous digital rights management schemes.
