[LINK] The PLAN, and broadband speeds?

[Karl Auer]

On Fri, 2007-06-22 at 13:26 +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
> > You have changed "videoconferencing" into "videophones". Different
> > things. The reality might end up being a bit of both, or neither.
> 
> that's because when you're talking about "videoconferencing" in the home, what
> uou're actually talking about is videophones.

Well, that may be what you think of. It's not what I envisage.

> which, as i mentioned in my previous email, hardly anyone actually wants.

Well, you've just committed a "Vic trick". Say someone is talking about
X, then deride X. I wasn't talking about video phones.

> VC/VPs have some uses in some work places.  they're a clumsy, expensive
> gimmick, otherwise.

Perhaps they are, now. Will they be tomorrow? Remember what a computer
looked like in 1970....

> one obvious fault that i neglected to mention in my last post was that
> it's a step backwards from the way people actually use phones now -
> people want wireless/mobile phones that they can use in any part of the
> house (or garage, or backyard, or roof, etc). they don't want to have
> a phone they can only use in one fixed location in the house, because
> that's where the screen and camera are.

This is not like you Craig. Not like you at all. Who says there will be
one screen? One camera? Who says where they will be?

> > that with good bandwidth and ease of use, videoconferencing (in some
> > form) might be hugely popular as a home technology.
> 
> i doubt it.

That's OK. Doubt away. But who would have thought in 1970 that there
would be general-purpose computers in every home only thirty years
later? Who imagined World of Warcraft as they played Hunt the Wumpus?

I have no idea if videoconferencing will be a big home technology one
day. The point I was trying to make was that with fast cheap
connectivity, things become commonplace that were once the province of
the few.

The only things that definitely will not happen are those that break the
laws of physics, and those that break fundamental human behaviours.
Everything else is at least possible. To see if it's probable, just
imagine it being really easy and really cheap. If the picture changes,
then that thing is probable.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)