and yeah... apache got its name because it was 'a patchy' web server.
its bloated, slow and lacking... but nobody knows better.... virtually no competion.
however, a web server and a video aggregator are very different.
making a video aggregator is easy. adding intuitive features to surround the core aggregation is a little tricker but still not overwhelmingly difficult. at the end of the day, most people (as in the potential migrating audience) just want to find and watch video. beyond that, it can get a little too geek-friendly which is fine for bragging rights but wont nec. assure more revenue. though, i am talking mostly of surface features... and not nec. innovative frameworking.
i still think that no matter.... new media aggregator software will popup all over the place in the coming years, with or without open source initiatives. it will be a very hard market to compete in unless you have a strong community and user base as well as some level of uniquity and a great marketing/sales team to work in the corporate sector.
and still, it will be very challenging... a business model may be improved if it included revenue sharing with content creators, forming an Internet Video 'Network'. full circle ;-)
sull
On 9/9/05, Clint Sharp <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Steve Watkins wrote:
> No im not suggesting that, its up to you to decide on the right
> balance, a NDA would be over the top unless it was absolutely vital
> that nobody ever said anything 'secret' about a beta version to the
> outside world, or if you waited to show a closed group of people some
> features but make sure they couldnt ripoff the idea or blab about it
> excessively etc.
>
> Anyway I dont think Im explaining some of my points very well. When I
> say your sending mixed messages, its because of conflicting
> information, thats all. This discussion about opensource, and any hard
> time you may get about it, is because there was a change of mind. It
> was your right to decide not to make it opensource, but after stating
> previously that it would be, its only fair to expect a little flack
> from it. Its just the same as if I promised version 1 of
> wibbletron4000 would be ready on 1st October, and then it wasnt, some
> people would be dissapointed.
>
> But if after promising version 1 and not delivering, I then tried to
> make out that it didnt matter at all, and to play it down too much, it
> might make things worse. And if I then tried to redefine the term
> 'release' to include software not actually released yet, then some git
> like me would come along and start ranting.
>
> Tat is an extreme example, Im not trying to paint ants closedsource
> decision as being of the same magnitude, just gave an over the top
> example to try to make the point clear.
>
> Steve of Elbows
>
Perhaps we'd also like to have a discussion about the downsides of open
source and what an open source entrant into a market like aggregators
does to the market and the quality of the software available? I advised
Jay and co. against making the product open source initially because of
my fears of destroying the market for video aggregators before it was
created. Open Source causes a commoditization of the market, and for a
young market you're essentially destroying the incentive to develop
feature filled easy to use software. This is why the webserver market
is lacking in so many features, when analytics software, database
development environments, etc, would all be sold as packaged
environments and built in at affordable prices except for the advent of
an open source solution. Also, it's hard to compare benchmarks for
Apache against any other package because there are no other robust
packages save IIS. It's hard to say Apache is great software because
there isn't a lot to compare it against. BIND is the same way. I'm
willing to accept it in infrastructure software because a monoculture is
potentially beneficial in terms of training and support (assuming you
ignore the security problems a monoculture creates). I'd hate to see
that happen in video aggregators, where everyone just uses I/ON because
it's free. Already with open source entrants and ANT remaining free,
you're not likely to see anyone developing exclusively for-pay video
aggregators, and thusly w/o that revenue stream features are likely to
suffer or be delayed. I like the fact that there are free competitors,
but I would have liked to have seen the market grow up with a for-pay
competitor at least in the initial entrants.
I agree with your point to some extent about using the term open source,
but Josh is right. People are using Open Source to describe the new
wiki culture, the re-mix culture, etc, all of which has nothing to do
with seeing what was used or the process to create the end result.
Getting honest user feedback and implementing it will develop far better
software than letting coders have commit access to your CVS repository.
However, it does defy the strict meaning of the term, although I think
it's current wide usage defies the strict meaning of the term as well.
If you want to argue that point, argue it with the thousands of people
regularly misusing the term on their blogs and other publications.
Clint
--
Clint Sharp
New Media Guy & Technologist
ClintSharp.com Contact Info: http://clintsharp.com/contact/
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