Back in the day, you could always get a good tech discussion going by asking which was better, Token Ring or Ethernet. It would bring out engineers that would give blow by blow differences on each and why their favorite was better. Heck, there used to be great battles on the merits of OS/2.
Then we got to the point of arguing about Windows Media vs Real Player vs Flash. Then Flash kicked everyones ass and MicroSoft tried to up the game with Silverlight. But where is the real down and dirty discussion contrasting the two and the best and worst places to use them ? Im not saying there isn’t some, there is, but its not part of the core discussion of video on the web and its future.
The same applies to the internet and digital connectivity to and in the home. When Yahoo and Intel announced their widget platform, everyone outside of cable industry publications ignored the Tru2Way element of the announcement. That shocked me. Intel and CableLabs announced more than a year ago that Intel would support Tru2Way on the chips that were core to the Yahoo/Intel announcement.
On fhe flipside, I got a good laugh out of my buddies at EngadgetHD (a site I love btw), who wrote that this announcement was much to my chagrin. Not quite guys, this is what I have been hoping for all along. Konfabulator on top of Tru2Way Thats progress. But it never generated any discussion as to how and where.
How would you configure a widget ? Yahoo says you wont use a keyboard, you will use a remote to pick your widget. How much of a true internet experience can it be if its limited to a remote ? RIght ? Where would the widget gallery be hosted ? This is an example of an announcement that people presumed they knew what it was about, when instead, it should have generated some amazing technical discussion as to what tech choices would be made. Maybe its too early, but I dont expect to read anything for a long time.
About the only tech discussions I seem to be able to get into these days are about P2P and those have all but disappeared along with any excitement for P2P, and with Dave from DSLReports about whether or not the last mile has enough bandwidth to allow the open internet to replace cable and satellite as a primary source of TV for mass consumption……it cant.
Call me nostalgic, but an indepth tech discussion is a whole lot more fun and interesting than today’s customary “the internet solves everything”