The Promise Of The Internet Is Now – The Ground Rules Are Changing Forever

Everyone told us years ago that the internet was gong to change everything without being specific. This was really being said at the time HTML format made navigation easy for anyone. You did not need to know UNIX commands, just a click of the mouse would do it. While the Internet was powerful by itself, if not for HTML, it would not have grown by much more than the BBS systems that were a standard of the same time.

At that time I had been a early adopter and was getting on the internet via a long distance call and CompuServe and was a UNIX command line operation.

By the time I had experienced both the internet and HTML, I quickly began to see specifically the way things were going to change.

Here were my thoughts from the early 1990’s

Music and Movies would not be controlled by the traditional distributors. It would be possible for a musician or a producer to market his/her products and ideas to those who might want them.

It reminded me of the Beetles “Apple Records”.

The beetles  had stated that the purpose of the record company was so that musicians did not have to give up there soul begging to distribute their talents to very greedy people.

So this is the first item of thought that had occurred to me with the Internet applied to most anything that traditionally has distribution controlled by a select few.

You can now see this begin to play out in NETFLIX, HULU and others in the video & entertainment area as they are now hosting original content. They will have to attract their own original content because the cable company’s have been busy the last 10 years buying up all the traditional content providers (movie makers) . Well they have been playing the same monopolistic game for some pretty high profits for years but now it’s going to change.

I mean to say that 2 cable company’s control 85% or more of content (movies and shows)  available for you to see. Now Comcast has a interest in HULU. A problem compounded by the fact the Cable CO’s also have better than 80% control  delivering the internet. A total conflict of interest.

Apple’s iTunes store has maintained the traditional means of distribution but changed who can retail the traditionally distributed music, magazines and soon TV.

What has excited me lately, to nearly complete the ground shaking internet explosion to change everything is this, that I will take from recent events and prove it has changed everything. And it only the beginning.

Going after venture capital is always a tough thing. Well, Along came KICKSTARTER.COM and changed the way and who will invest venture capital and who would decide what a worthwhile product or service was.

This is for those that have an idea that they want to proceed with and explained with a detail in a business summary and give prospective investors perks in their product or services once their fund raising goal is met.

So let’s take one project of thousands of successful campaigns on kickstarter.

OCULUS

A kid several years ago who was a gamer with a interest in virtual reality and who had a quest for a better VR HEADSET/GOGGLES that actually worked in a truly immersing 3d way.

At 20 years old, he started a kickstarter campaign for a stereoscopic 3d goggle that was just such a device. VR was considered a has been up to this point because it really was not truly immersive. This was probably not something he was going to get moving in any way with those that traditionally control the manufacturing and distribution of tech products or game system producers.

He met his fundraising goal in the first day of the campaign. What was the product ?

The OCULUS Rift

I believe he produced about 8000 units probably to game developers and hard core gamers for the easy $300 price tag. (His KICKSTARTER Campaign)

He now has over $30 million in backing and growing. Soon to release a enhanced version of this product with standards that can be incorporated by game developers and manufactures sometime in 2014 (that’s next year folks).

Do you think this 20 year old would have stood a chance in the traditional world ? Absolutely not. One or more of those company’s that he might have submitted his prototype with the hope of getting this off the ground would have just stole his ideas and sent him on his way.

The Internet Made All of this Possible and reminds me of why the FAB4 started “Apple Records” !

This is not just a tale of one guy who had extremely successful product ideas on kickstarter as there are many… Just Look.

Look-up how many 3D printer products have got there start from a kickstarter campaign. The PIRATE Buckeneer is one that comes to mind just recently.

It is funny that I would bring up the 3d printer. This is another product that will soon change our lives in many ways very soon.

Folks are getting funded for their art and movies along with those better household product ideas.

I can only hope that these folks remember the fundamentals of what the free internet has done for them when it comes under attack from those in traditional control who will promote laws favoring themselves and not the true free internet market.

Having seen my dreams of the internet begin to come to fruition, I think it is about time to  kick-start on my vision of 20 years at what is now possible…. all because the internet is free, powerful and the largest equalizer the world has ever known. Big or small, you are all the same (minus search engine and speed throttle manipulation). You truly have a equal chance to make it. Your ideas don’t have to stay ideas.

Everyone is or can be a entrepreneur.

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