Cringely Pitching Open Source TV
from the publicity-stunt? dept
Robert Cringely's latest idea is to turn his popular column into a TV show of sorts. Except, the idea would be that it would be entirely online. Then, to make it more interesting, he is claiming that the show would be open source. It's a bit misleading, but what he's really saying is that he'd encourage people to share the file (it would only be offered as a complete download - not streaming - to deal with quality issues). By letting people share it, he feels it would remove some of the bandwidth issues he would otherwise have to deal with. He would also offer different versions. One would be the full "source code" including every bit of footage they shot. Then there would be a "techie edit" (which would focus on the techie issues discussed on the show), a "suit edit" (for the business folks) and a 2 - 3 minute "highlights" version. While I think that some of the idea is designed just to get Cringely more publicity, it's not a bad idea in many ways. It wouldn't hurt some folks in the entertainment industry to watch what happens if this actually goes through.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
