This, of course, is way off "links on the blink" but I couldn't resist... because both statements, will all due respect, are lacking a key ingredient: vision : Vadim:
However, the utility of VOD is very questionable, as the basic need to see the movie quite adequately and cheaply satisfyed by low-tech video rentals.
HWB:
In a cost/benefit tradeoff, delivering videos like pizza (including 30 minutes or free) is probably really a more efficient way to go than wrapping them into packets (or cells). At least for the time being. Just need a good way to pick'em up next day, a problem resolved for pizza for ages already as well (translation into something volatile after use).
The above worldviews, with all due respect, are very similar to those who predicted that the Movie Theather Business would die when when VCRs and Home Video hit the market. The opposite occured, as we all know, box office receipts skyrocketed to all time highs and remain high. People enjoy sitting in a room with strangers laughing a the same scene, crying, munching pop corn in the dark. In a different vein, but similar realism, as the Internet continues to grow and to be accepted mainstream, people will enjoy sitting on their terminal at work or at play, surf to their favorite WWW video site, open up a window and look at the featured movies , or search the archives for something difficult to find and not quite as mainstream as the limited selection in Your Local Area Video Store. I do not think that the future holds Pizza-Delivery style videos only, guys. Especially for those whom are elderly, sick, live in rural areas, live in crime-dangerous areas, the technically elite, students, parents seeking educational films for their children, people and organizations distributing low-budget film media, sophisticated consumers bored with pop culture, international and foreign language customers..... The possibilities are endless..... Only acute tunnel-vision-itis would affect someone to think that the video market is only for the healthy, young, pop culture types that cruise the local video store. Regards, Tim -- +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Tim Bass | #include<campfire.h> | | Principal Network Systems Engineer | for(beer=100;beer>1;beer++){ | | The Silk Road Group, Ltd. | take_one_down(); | | | pass_it_around(); | | http://www.silkroad.com/ | } | | | back_to_work(); /*never reached */ | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+