Or more accurately, acting as the technology provider that the content folks couldn’t or won’t create for themselves.Marshall Kirkpatrick worries about end of YouTube’s monopoly (an angle that Scott Karp wrote about recently) – “It would be a real loss to the world if the two tiers of creativity, professional and user generated, were forever bifurcated in different distribution channels … The emergence of viable online alternatives like Joost could spell trouble for any hopes that we will soon be able to watch Beavis & Butthead and Chad Vader all in one convenient location.”… Having one online video site seems to me a little like having one TV network – there should be room for multiple approaches, and going to multiple sites for different content shouldn’t be any more troublesome for video than it is for any other content, I suppose…. Henry Blodget frames it as clips vs shows, though I see no reason why Joost couldn’t show clips as well – their choice, I suppose – and wonders why anyone would want to watch TV shows on their computer (answer – because it’s there – whenever you want, where you want it – that’s the point, isn’t it?).In any event, I’m struck both by how fast YouTube grew and was sold, and how quickly serious competitors and new approaches are emerging.

Suggestion Board controversy, though, like Pete Cashmore, I think inDiggnation over other sites using voting is as pretty darned tedious use of one’s time). Details at Direct2Dell, and Jack Schofield at the Guardian blog has a nice overview.This strikes me as a pretty darned cool idea. I can’t help but wonder if Dell learned from The Jarvis Fiasco (it has a nice ring to it – in the vein of The Caine Mutiny or The Bourne Identity)…. IdeaStorm is just an evil plan to take back the top Google hits from stories about The Jarvis Fiasco.But here’s the takeaway, for me: just as forums proliferated after the first few launched, what we need now is a platform that will allow anyone to create a branded voting-powered suggestion board – now that would be impressive.