[IP] South Park says it better -- the punch line

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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From: Bob Frankston [Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 2:29 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: RE: South Park says it better -- the punch line

I’m doing this in a separate note so as not to include a spoiler in the first. It’s necessary since I can’t assume everyone can view the episode because it requires a special player. That is a problem in the sense that you may have a limited choice of platforms but that’s not a problem with using the Internet for distribution – after all, having to own the right set top box is no different.

What is important is that you don’t have to build a separate infrastructure silo for this particular application. Requiring a special device for viewing is a marketing/DRM issue. There are lots of valid policy issues but we can disentangle them rather than being trapped in endless interdependence.

As to the PL – just unplug the Internet and plug it back it. It will recover. The concept of “just reboot” was what gave the buggy PC and its apps the big advantage over those that were overly cautious in order to avoid failure. Anything that can be fixed by rebooting is just a learning experience rather than fatal.

From: Bob Frankston [mailto:Bob19-0501@bobf.frankston.com]
Sent: Sunday, April 20, 2008 14:19
To: 'dave@farber.net'
Subject: South Park says it better

The Internet as a consumable: http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/166179/. I won’t give away the punch line except to note that solution at the end is actually a very good one. It’s far better to be resilient than to prevent failure.

The show is also a reminder of the fallacy of seeing the Internet as something provided rather than something that we each create by contributing to it.

I’ve had conversations with those who are so immersed in the technology that they think watching “TV” over the Internet is too geeky. As we see it’s just the opposite – it’s far easy to share and view “content” over the Internet than over a set top box. There isn’t a single viewing experience called “TV” anymore. Sure, you may want to watch some video on your living room TV but other is best viewed on a PC or a mobile device. Remember that this is “long form” full resolution and has advertising – it’s not just a YouTube snippet.

This is a case where the mere existence is more telling than that content itself. You don’t have to “consume bandwidth” to get the point.

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