| Notify me of new responses |
A few days ago the Wall Street Journal wrote about the PointCast Network,
concluding that the Web could become a broadcast medium. What is your
opinion?
-- Claudio Gatti, December 22, 1996
To me the interesting distinction between broadcast and, well, pointcast, is not how the bits are delivered to the reader. What distinguishes a broadcast medium is the millions of people who consume the same product. That makes it worthwhile to pour a lot of money into making the product great. A pointcast medium only has an audience of one and, unless the one person is Bill Gates, it isn't economical to put pour money into making the product compelling. One must rely on computer programs to assemble a product that happens to be compelling due to its greater relevance.
-- Philip Greenspun, December 22, 1996