by Steve Meloan
(Page 3)
by Steve Meloan
(Page 3)
"We're definitely getting to the point where a videophone-like presence, at least between people with computers, will be taken for granted in the near future," Sattler predicts. He also foresees a fundamental transformation within the telephone industry as a result of CU-SeeMe and technologies like it -- the eventual demise of long distance phone services as we now know them.
Because world-wide voice communication over the Internet can already be achieved while using only local numbers, Sattler believes that the telephone companies will soon make their profits from providing infrastructure on the information highway, rather than through the current variable rate usage-charging structures. "ISDN and other high-speed technologies will make their money for them," he says, "via a flat fee." And now, as the cable television industry makes clear its intention to provide every home in America with megabit two-way connections, the first shots have been fired in a potentially protracted turf war between the cable and telephone industries. Ultra high speed Internet access will apparently soon be available at costs which easily rival ISDN. "As a result," says Sattler, "current ISDN technology may very well merit only a footnote in the pages of high-tech communications history."
Some wonder whether CU-SeeMe itself is a truly stable medium, or simply a fledgling indicator of technological things to come. Other video-conferencing technologies do currently exist. And Apple computer is reportedly soon to release a product very similar to CU-SeeMe. But the other technologies all require significant hardware and infrastructure outlays. CU-SeeMe stands alone as being ready to go now, and to virtually anyone with a computer and a modem. Sattler, who is currently writing a book on the subject, says simply, "CU-SeeMe is a force to be reckoned with for a while."
CU-SeeMe events and shows are already scheduled. They run the gamut from computer consultant Alfredo Lusa's coverage of this summer's "Burning Man" gathering (a self described "ragtag assemblage of neo-pagans, ravers, hippies, and lawyers, which culminates in the ritual torching of a four-story high figure made of neon and wood"), to Buzz magazine's forthcoming coverage of its tony, industry-oriented "Literary Salons," which are regularly held at the Chateau Marmont hotel on Hollywood's Sunset Strip.
Buzz's editor-in-chief, Allan Mayer, has been an aggressive proponent of Internet-based media, particularly within the realm of his magazine. Mayer played a pivotal role in the design and implementation of Buzz Online, a World-Wide-Web version of his Los Angeles based publication. In addition to their upcoming Literary Salon coverage, Buzz also presented a series of live panel discussions via CU-SeeMe at the recent New Media Expo in Los Angeles.
"It's a means by which to convey an event, without particularly elaborate hardware or software at either end," Mayer explains. "It may not be a particularly sophisticated presentation, but you can at least bring people into the room." He likens current CU-SeeMe technology to the state of television in the late 40's. "It's relatively easy to put on," he says. "The problem is at the other end, in terms of how many people are currently out there." But Mayer enjoys the thought of being at the forefront of the medium, no matter how currently limiting it might be. "Clearly, CU-SeeMe is presently best suited to small group teleconferencing, but it can be used for more ambitious applications," he emphasizes.
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