Accompanied by my AV buddy Andrew, we attended Yaron Samid's densely packed NY Video Meet-up, where nearly 400 NY based internet participants heard presentations from 5 emerging internet video related companies. If you are interested in investing, or joining a video company, this is a monthly must attend forum.
Of particular note, keep an eye on the impressive progress of open source, not for profit entity Miro. Their recently introduced Miro 2.0 does a great job of bringing internet based HD video to your PC. With a built-in media guide, great codec support and BitTorrent availability, they provide wonderful access and search capabilities. The service seems to be attracting a nice audience. As an example of their market acceptance, here's Quantcast's estimates for Boxee.tv vs Miro:
Per the Miro presenter, they have not yet drawn the formal 'attention' that Boxee's received from Hulu. I suspect we will hear more on this topic as the year unfolds.
Showing posts with label hulu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hulu. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
A big chill and gatekeepers
I have been thinking about the Boxee/Hulu imbroglio. While it's unclear what ransom will be extracted from Boxee type companies to gain access to distribute proprietary content, some points are crystal clear:
1. The pace of capital investment towards young companies involved in the 'digital living room' will be vastly diminished.
2. Venture capitalists will be taking turns writing 100x on conference room chalkboards lines of "I will never again invest in industry's controlled by gatekeepers".
3. Hulu's management is in conflict with its parents. On one hand, Hulu has a mandate to build a top destination site, on the other hand, it can't be accomplished by embracing/extending technology to the digital living room; which happens to be an incredibly fast growing market segment.
4. Existing investors in exposed companies have that Free Fallin feeling.
1. The pace of capital investment towards young companies involved in the 'digital living room' will be vastly diminished.
2. Venture capitalists will be taking turns writing 100x on conference room chalkboards lines of "I will never again invest in industry's controlled by gatekeepers".
3. Hulu's management is in conflict with its parents. On one hand, Hulu has a mandate to build a top destination site, on the other hand, it can't be accomplished by embracing/extending technology to the digital living room; which happens to be an incredibly fast growing market segment.
4. Existing investors in exposed companies have that Free Fallin feeling.
Is Boxee Cable's Napster?
Hulu a leading site that streams premium TV content, announced that its content will no longer be available via Boxee (recently funded by Union Square and Spark).
In a short period of time, hundreds of thousands of people have expressed interest in Boxee's solution, that enables you to view movies, TV programs, etc., streamed from your PC and displayed on your HDTV. In a twist that Hollywood writers would deeply appreciate, it seems as if the warm market response became the ironic problem for this company. Similar to the way Napster, Bit torrent, and other pirates siphoned revenues from content providers, it seems as if the battleground is now shifting to Cable/MSO's. Make no mistake, these folk relish a good bloody fight.
The issue is that, with services such as this (and there are many services such as this), users can stream quality content via one cable connection to many TV's. Adios multiple set top boxes (perhaps, hasta la vista one set top box).Therefore, monthly subscriber revenue, which is much more powerful to these folk than advertising revenue, will be under intense pressure. It's similar to the problem newspapers have; no realistic prospect of replacing home subscription revenue with monetized CPM views. It's the ultimate existential threat to the status quo.
Safe to say, round 1 goes to the cable/content providers here. Nevertheless, the software/internet industry is known for being thrown out the door and coming back through the window. The technology barriers to entry for services such as Boxee are not that large. The question is whether this fight, which is really over 'business' model and legal use, will determine if we see a new generation of pirates, or will there be an accommodation that enables a new generation of legal innovators?
In hindsight, unlike YouTube, which experienced incredible hypergrowth, largely through purloined SNL content, Boxee had an early high profile and was rapidly attacked by the content/cable owners (fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...). No doubt this is a battle to see if the Wolf will survive.
In a short period of time, hundreds of thousands of people have expressed interest in Boxee's solution, that enables you to view movies, TV programs, etc., streamed from your PC and displayed on your HDTV. In a twist that Hollywood writers would deeply appreciate, it seems as if the warm market response became the ironic problem for this company. Similar to the way Napster, Bit torrent, and other pirates siphoned revenues from content providers, it seems as if the battleground is now shifting to Cable/MSO's. Make no mistake, these folk relish a good bloody fight.
The issue is that, with services such as this (and there are many services such as this), users can stream quality content via one cable connection to many TV's. Adios multiple set top boxes (perhaps, hasta la vista one set top box).Therefore, monthly subscriber revenue, which is much more powerful to these folk than advertising revenue, will be under intense pressure. It's similar to the problem newspapers have; no realistic prospect of replacing home subscription revenue with monetized CPM views. It's the ultimate existential threat to the status quo.
Safe to say, round 1 goes to the cable/content providers here. Nevertheless, the software/internet industry is known for being thrown out the door and coming back through the window. The technology barriers to entry for services such as Boxee are not that large. The question is whether this fight, which is really over 'business' model and legal use, will determine if we see a new generation of pirates, or will there be an accommodation that enables a new generation of legal innovators?
In hindsight, unlike YouTube, which experienced incredible hypergrowth, largely through purloined SNL content, Boxee had an early high profile and was rapidly attacked by the content/cable owners (fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...). No doubt this is a battle to see if the Wolf will survive.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
NBC Direct launches download of 'HD' shows
After an extended testing period, NBC launched today their 'HD' video download service. Content is available for immediate download, or via a free download subscription that automatically sends shows to your PC (for now Windows only, and not transferable to other machines/devices).
Notable is the first significant market endorsement of P2P technology by a large owner of video content. Long the scourge of content owners, P2P (in this case powered by Pando Networks...where I am an investor), the legal harnessing of this technology has a promise of providing enhanced quality, lower costs, and better network performance than stand alone CDN delivery.
The nascent yet emerging 'digital living room' market is showing signs of experiencing great growth, as evidenced by Hulu's steep rise in viewers here. We are seeing a gaggle of solutions from stream to download, hearing about the primacy of the set-top box and new intelligence built into the PC (mom would love that oxymoron), let alone the great media server debate. The raging debates reminds me of the IBM/ATT quarrel of the late 80's when the hot topic was which is more valuable the network or the node? While ATT and IBM were fighting that one out, Cisco and Microsoft created the great franchises for the next decade. I would not be surprised if some of the young vendors competing here today have similar DNA.
For NBC, I suspect that the scope of available content and the viewing experience will be the key factors in its success. Looking at content, the NBC Video Library includes such stalwart shows as Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Buck Rogers, and Mr. T's the A Team! As for the viewing experience, download the client and start watching. Don't feel guilty, you are doing 'research'.
From NBC's perspective, I am sure watched by other broadcasters, delivering 'HD' using P2P could be a cost/experience equation game changer. If not for you, NBC....
Notable is the first significant market endorsement of P2P technology by a large owner of video content. Long the scourge of content owners, P2P (in this case powered by Pando Networks...where I am an investor), the legal harnessing of this technology has a promise of providing enhanced quality, lower costs, and better network performance than stand alone CDN delivery.
The nascent yet emerging 'digital living room' market is showing signs of experiencing great growth, as evidenced by Hulu's steep rise in viewers here. We are seeing a gaggle of solutions from stream to download, hearing about the primacy of the set-top box and new intelligence built into the PC (mom would love that oxymoron), let alone the great media server debate. The raging debates reminds me of the IBM/ATT quarrel of the late 80's when the hot topic was which is more valuable the network or the node? While ATT and IBM were fighting that one out, Cisco and Microsoft created the great franchises for the next decade. I would not be surprised if some of the young vendors competing here today have similar DNA.
For NBC, I suspect that the scope of available content and the viewing experience will be the key factors in its success. Looking at content, the NBC Video Library includes such stalwart shows as Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Buck Rogers, and Mr. T's the A Team! As for the viewing experience, download the client and start watching. Don't feel guilty, you are doing 'research'.
From NBC's perspective, I am sure watched by other broadcasters, delivering 'HD' using P2P could be a cost/experience equation game changer. If not for you, NBC....
Monday, February 9, 2009
You reap what you sow
Over the wise objections of my spouse, I thought it would be great family time to have the various members of the family unit explore the myriad short and long form video content available on the internet. I had visions of us sitting together, like a Norman Rockwell painting, enjoying past Hill Street Blues episodes and pontificating how this is a precursor to the beloved and fast paced 24. The reality is that, after 3 minutes, the family unit degraded to the plural; family units. Screens were displaying a myriad of video content in four separate rooms and I found myself assigned four room popcorn kernel corralling Dustbuster duty.
Fortunately, we have a number of distinct access points so 4 HD/VHS quality streams were not too taxing on our bandwidth, but it set me thinking about the 'real time' video experience that is about to hit the beach. The vagaries of video encoding, coupled with network congestion issues, caused uneven experiences in our unscientific family sample. Most of us were watching Hulu, where the stream is around 700kps (VHS quality); or their HD channel which I suspect is closer to 2Mbs. No doubt the uneven experience would have been exacerbated if we all chose to watch true 4+Mbps HD content.
An even larger macro issue facing the industry is scalability of provisioning a network to economically deliver a positive 'real time' viewing experience. Our industry has learned in many ways and countless times that adequate provisioning is really over provisioning; where networks need to have the infrastructure ready for the peaks, not the normal traffic load, is an equation rife with the potential of economic losses.
For many reasons, I am normally a fierce advocate of non-client solutions. Nevertheless, it seems likely that, from a combined cost/quality perspective, we are (and should be) heading towards a hybrid client/cloud solution for the living room internet experience. Content will be called from the cloud and streamed via a hybrid P2P solution (see Pandonetworks) that can cost effectively deal with the massive over provisioning required in an uncertain forecasting world.
This may be stored content, or 'live' streamed (see Octoshape and what they did with CNN, delivering 25mm streams around Mr. Obama's inauguration). Provisioning to such a large, and uncertain number of viewers exclusively via CDN's would break the bank for many revenue starved networks. In an era of challenged advertising budgets, network shareholders no longer tolerate spending like drunken sailors, especially when viable solutions that increase quality, lower costs, and provide better viewing information are available.
If the premise that we are heading towards a hybrid P2P client/cloud delivery solution holds true, it is logical that the client would also incorporate features that enable you to download once to the house and enable distribution to multiple family unit(s) (see Tversity), offer PVR capabilities, and an enhanced discovery/search capability.
Sometimes, fantasies come true.
Fortunately, we have a number of distinct access points so 4 HD/VHS quality streams were not too taxing on our bandwidth, but it set me thinking about the 'real time' video experience that is about to hit the beach. The vagaries of video encoding, coupled with network congestion issues, caused uneven experiences in our unscientific family sample. Most of us were watching Hulu, where the stream is around 700kps (VHS quality); or their HD channel which I suspect is closer to 2Mbs. No doubt the uneven experience would have been exacerbated if we all chose to watch true 4+Mbps HD content.
An even larger macro issue facing the industry is scalability of provisioning a network to economically deliver a positive 'real time' viewing experience. Our industry has learned in many ways and countless times that adequate provisioning is really over provisioning; where networks need to have the infrastructure ready for the peaks, not the normal traffic load, is an equation rife with the potential of economic losses.
For many reasons, I am normally a fierce advocate of non-client solutions. Nevertheless, it seems likely that, from a combined cost/quality perspective, we are (and should be) heading towards a hybrid client/cloud solution for the living room internet experience. Content will be called from the cloud and streamed via a hybrid P2P solution (see Pandonetworks) that can cost effectively deal with the massive over provisioning required in an uncertain forecasting world.
This may be stored content, or 'live' streamed (see Octoshape and what they did with CNN, delivering 25mm streams around Mr. Obama's inauguration). Provisioning to such a large, and uncertain number of viewers exclusively via CDN's would break the bank for many revenue starved networks. In an era of challenged advertising budgets, network shareholders no longer tolerate spending like drunken sailors, especially when viable solutions that increase quality, lower costs, and provide better viewing information are available.
If the premise that we are heading towards a hybrid P2P client/cloud delivery solution holds true, it is logical that the client would also incorporate features that enable you to download once to the house and enable distribution to multiple family unit(s) (see Tversity), offer PVR capabilities, and an enhanced discovery/search capability.
Sometimes, fantasies come true.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
ComScore 2008 Digital Year report (click here) and excerpts from Akamai analyst call
Comscore recently released a report detailing digital media usage for '08, and thoughts for '09. As video is a big part of it, I have also included highlights from today's Akamai analyst call:
1. 2008 e-commerce spending of $214B increased 7% over '07. All metrics were positive going into Q4, which ended with Nov/Dec each down 3%. Travel continues as the largest commerce category ($84B).
2. The fastest growing categories were Video +29%, Home/Garden +25% and Sport/fitness +25%
3. Notable site performance; Facebook +57%, Wordpress +67%, Mozilla +40%
4. Video is rocking; 6% more people viewed 34% more videos last year than prior period. Online video now accounts for 12.5% of all time on the internet (up 50% in the last year). YouTube leads all video sites, with a 40% market share, and growing more than 50% faster than the market. Facilitated by near ubiquitous broadband access, legal streaming and better displays, a pronounced trend is emerging towards long-form viewing, led by Hulu, which is now the #6 video site. Moreover, Hulu had an average of 12 minutes view/video, which is nearly 4x that of today's other leading video sites. From the Akamai call, management sees television moving to delivery over IP. Today, internet provisioned video to the home serves the 3rd or 4th TV in the house, but they inevitably see it coming to the primary screen. For the big screen, quality of the viewing experience matters.
I am not sure that '09 will be the year it crosses to the mainstream, but definitely sees signs that it's coming. Per my son, " this is going to kill MTV". Quite fittingly, as we are at the beginning of another paradigm shift, here is the first video played on MTV.
5. Smartphone internet browsing soared 34%. Led by a 43% rise of 3G phones, coupled with flat rate pricing, this trend should accelerate as the full-year impact of 3G iPhones, Blackberry's and Androids are felt.
These trends continue to bode well for cloud based applications that are built for universal access (any device/anywhere). The continued explosion of alternative viewing channels will place a premium on developing a familiar way to organize and search/discover desired content. Also, during platform shifts people are constantly trying new things. Of course, many monetization and user experiences need to be worked out. In any event, these should be wonderful areas for young companies to exploit vibrant and growing markets.
1. 2008 e-commerce spending of $214B increased 7% over '07. All metrics were positive going into Q4, which ended with Nov/Dec each down 3%. Travel continues as the largest commerce category ($84B).
2. The fastest growing categories were Video +29%, Home/Garden +25% and Sport/fitness +25%
3. Notable site performance; Facebook +57%, Wordpress +67%, Mozilla +40%
4. Video is rocking; 6% more people viewed 34% more videos last year than prior period. Online video now accounts for 12.5% of all time on the internet (up 50% in the last year). YouTube leads all video sites, with a 40% market share, and growing more than 50% faster than the market. Facilitated by near ubiquitous broadband access, legal streaming and better displays, a pronounced trend is emerging towards long-form viewing, led by Hulu, which is now the #6 video site. Moreover, Hulu had an average of 12 minutes view/video, which is nearly 4x that of today's other leading video sites. From the Akamai call, management sees television moving to delivery over IP. Today, internet provisioned video to the home serves the 3rd or 4th TV in the house, but they inevitably see it coming to the primary screen. For the big screen, quality of the viewing experience matters.
I am not sure that '09 will be the year it crosses to the mainstream, but definitely sees signs that it's coming. Per my son, " this is going to kill MTV". Quite fittingly, as we are at the beginning of another paradigm shift, here is the first video played on MTV.
5. Smartphone internet browsing soared 34%. Led by a 43% rise of 3G phones, coupled with flat rate pricing, this trend should accelerate as the full-year impact of 3G iPhones, Blackberry's and Androids are felt.
These trends continue to bode well for cloud based applications that are built for universal access (any device/anywhere). The continued explosion of alternative viewing channels will place a premium on developing a familiar way to organize and search/discover desired content. Also, during platform shifts people are constantly trying new things. Of course, many monetization and user experiences need to be worked out. In any event, these should be wonderful areas for young companies to exploit vibrant and growing markets.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Windows 7, AJAX,, Bberry and my living room
Walt Mossberg wrote a positive pre-review of Windows 7 in the WSJ. He's a wonderful writer with a honed skill to express himself with the voice of you and I. His perspective is that Windows 7 looks to be Vista done right, with one major advancement towards UI support of touch screens for the desktop/notebook.
Perhaps, he's right that after 3 painful years, where hardware vendors 'upgraded' us to the PREVIOUS Windows version for $150, Windows OS' will again provide acceptable performance. I think not. What was designed as acceptable 3 years ago, pre iPhone/Blackberry Bold is no longer state of the art in this fast changing computing environment. Nor, as a platform supportive of where the going forward opportunity is for the industry and its entrepreneurs.
Over the past 3 years, many of us have enjoyed a steady migration away from desktop applications, towards cloud based services, including storage. I would love my PC to support, even enable this phenomenon. After watching a seamless feed of Mr. Obama take the oath of office via Hulu it's apparent that bandwidth, though not HD capable yet for a streamed environment, is a good enough, and rapidly improving, viewing experience.
Important innovations in the AJAX world are fueling a rich client feel to web based applications. No doubt we will shortly enjoy measurable improvements in the serving of content, and the web based application experience that will accelerate our move away from a client-centric OS. Already, GOOG's suite of applications, Zimbra/Yahoo, and Salesforce's experiences rival current 'rich' client experiences; and they are rapidly improving with steady browser, UI and computational innovations that are notable for MSFT's absence of leadership.
I would also like a PC to be as DUMB as possible, give me bullet proof appliance-like hardware, browser at the ready, with sufficient bandwidth to fetch cloud based applications, content, and bring relationships to me, or enable me to discover new and exciting places of interest. Facilitate a device to be my personal media server, on call to send my content, or web preferences to a chosen remote device (smart phone or XBox) on demand. Free me from limited content ownership by supporting access (like Pandora). While the PC is getting simpler, let's have an OS design philosophy that supports the stunning price/value equation embraced by consumers in the netbook market.
The metaphor of PC based computing, which happens to be web enabled, has reached its innovative dead-end. Cloud based computing, brought to a device (which may be a PC), is the present and near future. Till MSFT shows the courage to more aggressively 'eats its young' we will remain dissatisfied, as users, with their direction. Sure, Windows 7 boots faster and supports almost as many devices as XP...yawn.
MSFT rightfully earned its dominant position by commoditizing the desktop. They brought incredible value by simultaneously reducing the initial cost of applications, decreasing training through standardization of the UI, and plummeting our total cost of ownership. They have lost their 'permacheap' credentials to a host of competitors ranging from Google, to Red Hat and even a not for profit, Mozilla. This is only a sampling of the first generation of vendors attacking aging application and infrastructure 'permacheap' holdouts. I expect many more will savage the rising cost of ownership numbers, reduce user networked complexity, and cast a light on implicit relationships.
As an investor in early stage software/internet companies, I could not be happier that an older generation of vendors has built a walled-garden of maintenance drug-like revenue annuities. The IT industry's hardware, software and internet vendors are in the midst of a consolidation wave that exacerbates their exposure to permacheap, disposable solutions.
I am wishing them many more good reviews to support their somnolence while they cling to the tyranny of a client-centric time, whistling our favorite Cricket tune
Perhaps, he's right that after 3 painful years, where hardware vendors 'upgraded' us to the PREVIOUS Windows version for $150, Windows OS' will again provide acceptable performance. I think not. What was designed as acceptable 3 years ago, pre iPhone/Blackberry Bold is no longer state of the art in this fast changing computing environment. Nor, as a platform supportive of where the going forward opportunity is for the industry and its entrepreneurs.
Over the past 3 years, many of us have enjoyed a steady migration away from desktop applications, towards cloud based services, including storage. I would love my PC to support, even enable this phenomenon. After watching a seamless feed of Mr. Obama take the oath of office via Hulu it's apparent that bandwidth, though not HD capable yet for a streamed environment, is a good enough, and rapidly improving, viewing experience.
Important innovations in the AJAX world are fueling a rich client feel to web based applications. No doubt we will shortly enjoy measurable improvements in the serving of content, and the web based application experience that will accelerate our move away from a client-centric OS. Already, GOOG's suite of applications, Zimbra/Yahoo, and Salesforce's experiences rival current 'rich' client experiences; and they are rapidly improving with steady browser, UI and computational innovations that are notable for MSFT's absence of leadership.
I would also like a PC to be as DUMB as possible, give me bullet proof appliance-like hardware, browser at the ready, with sufficient bandwidth to fetch cloud based applications, content, and bring relationships to me, or enable me to discover new and exciting places of interest. Facilitate a device to be my personal media server, on call to send my content, or web preferences to a chosen remote device (smart phone or XBox) on demand. Free me from limited content ownership by supporting access (like Pandora). While the PC is getting simpler, let's have an OS design philosophy that supports the stunning price/value equation embraced by consumers in the netbook market.
The metaphor of PC based computing, which happens to be web enabled, has reached its innovative dead-end. Cloud based computing, brought to a device (which may be a PC), is the present and near future. Till MSFT shows the courage to more aggressively 'eats its young' we will remain dissatisfied, as users, with their direction. Sure, Windows 7 boots faster and supports almost as many devices as XP...yawn.
MSFT rightfully earned its dominant position by commoditizing the desktop. They brought incredible value by simultaneously reducing the initial cost of applications, decreasing training through standardization of the UI, and plummeting our total cost of ownership. They have lost their 'permacheap' credentials to a host of competitors ranging from Google, to Red Hat and even a not for profit, Mozilla. This is only a sampling of the first generation of vendors attacking aging application and infrastructure 'permacheap' holdouts. I expect many more will savage the rising cost of ownership numbers, reduce user networked complexity, and cast a light on implicit relationships.
As an investor in early stage software/internet companies, I could not be happier that an older generation of vendors has built a walled-garden of maintenance drug-like revenue annuities. The IT industry's hardware, software and internet vendors are in the midst of a consolidation wave that exacerbates their exposure to permacheap, disposable solutions.
I am wishing them many more good reviews to support their somnolence while they cling to the tyranny of a client-centric time, whistling our favorite Cricket tune
Thursday, January 8, 2009
'The Tyranny of Dead Ideas'
This recently introduced book by Matt Miller deals with macro issues such as school funding, merit pay, etc. On these pages I have chosen not to address such grand issues, though the title set me to thinking about the tyranny of dead ideas, within the technology industry, that when confronted with business or technology innovation, seem to crumble. Here's some examples that come to mind in the software/technology space:
1. John Moores and Rick Hosely of BMC fame proved the accepted wisdom that you can never sell software over the phone that cost more than $25,000 was nothing more than a shibboleth.
2. Microsoft proved showed CIO's that they can indeed be fired for only buying from IBM (and not innovating fast enough)
3. Linus Torvalds showed us that the wisdom of the 'Catherdral and the Bazaar' was not academic and that open source software can be more reliable and better supported than proprietary code.
4. Remember the thought that MSFT bundling its browser into the OS would kill the software industry and stifle innovation? In many ways, it accelerated the adoption of the content side of the internet and gave rise to Google's foray into the browser based OS world via Chrome.
5. After watching Hill Street Blues on my 18" monitor, streamed via Hulu, that tyranny of thought that the internet is the 'lean forward medium' and the TV is the lean back medium went up in smoke. Hasta la vista to Cablevision?...the thought just sends shivers down my spine.
6. A non-technology example of tyranny against ideas (yes, I altered the title because it seems the tyranny we have to be sensitive to in recessionary times of is the tyranny towards the status quo, and against innovation), is that no one would spend $2 for a cup of coffee; when alternatives are available for 75 cents per cup. Regardless of your taste for Starbucks, you gotta love Howard Shultz
I have no doubt that we are holding fast to a number of ideas that are rapidly 'dying' or should have never been accepted in the first place. The companies that debunk them first, or most completely, should have great futures.
1. John Moores and Rick Hosely of BMC fame proved the accepted wisdom that you can never sell software over the phone that cost more than $25,000 was nothing more than a shibboleth.
2. Microsoft proved showed CIO's that they can indeed be fired for only buying from IBM (and not innovating fast enough)
3. Linus Torvalds showed us that the wisdom of the 'Catherdral and the Bazaar' was not academic and that open source software can be more reliable and better supported than proprietary code.
4. Remember the thought that MSFT bundling its browser into the OS would kill the software industry and stifle innovation? In many ways, it accelerated the adoption of the content side of the internet and gave rise to Google's foray into the browser based OS world via Chrome.
5. After watching Hill Street Blues on my 18" monitor, streamed via Hulu, that tyranny of thought that the internet is the 'lean forward medium' and the TV is the lean back medium went up in smoke. Hasta la vista to Cablevision?...the thought just sends shivers down my spine.
6. A non-technology example of tyranny against ideas (yes, I altered the title because it seems the tyranny we have to be sensitive to in recessionary times of is the tyranny towards the status quo, and against innovation), is that no one would spend $2 for a cup of coffee; when alternatives are available for 75 cents per cup. Regardless of your taste for Starbucks, you gotta love Howard Shultz
I have no doubt that we are holding fast to a number of ideas that are rapidly 'dying' or should have never been accepted in the first place. The companies that debunk them first, or most completely, should have great futures.
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