I Cringely has a spectacular article about the benefits of combining the benefits of Open Source Software, Wireless Internet access, PVR and VoIP. This is the kind of technological innovation that changes the way the world works! The last line explains it all:
That’s the big lesson here, not that some guys up in Canada can run their own Star Trek marathon, but that Open Source software is leading to digital devices being used in large volumes in ways their designers never envisioned. This takes control of the network out of the hands of the providers and into the hands of the users. And the outcome doesn’t have to be some socialistic information economy. On the contrary, it means that whole new business models will appear to take advantage of the fact that all types of communications and all types of content will be able to reach all parts of the market with almost no friction.