- Q. Why not ask a question and put your name at the end like this? --DanielHarris
- Q. Will the content be shared or secure? --MayaAlexander?
- A. These are not mutually exclusive ideas. Also, they can mean many different things to many different people. For example you can have systems for sharing files that are extremely secure. The exact specification for the final Kendra System is unknown because that's what we're doing here: building Kendra System. In terms of the [Kendra Catalogue Trial] the idea is to first enable content owners to list themselves as participating. Then we'll ask them to publish their catalogue info/metadata. So, no actual content publishing at this stage, just descriptions of the content. But it's vital that we get people on board now to discuss requirements and show support. If we can't get these people we can't build the Kendra System because we wont know what it needs to be.
- Putting content online comes a little later. Each piece of content will have rules associated with it (see: [Kendra Rules Trial]) that will describe what people can do with the content and the way it behaves.
- Back to the question... Your content may end up being mirrored or located (sounds like sharing to me) on a number of servers around the globe. Remember the closer the content is to the end user the better quality delivery they will get – whether streamed or downloaded. But you can set this criteria the way you want. So, if you only want people to be able to get a piece of content from one place (and so no mirroring) then that goes in the rules. You decide.
- Security is a big issue right now but nothing is ever totally secure. And when someone views your film they'll always be able to record it and re-encode it no matter how much "security" there is. So, to my mind, the issue is more about making it easy to pay for the film and making it available in any format on any device. People pay for convenience. If your main priority is not getting paid but restricting people's use then you're going to have a tough life. But I think you'll want the cash, yes? --DanielHarris
- Q. How will access to the content work? --MayaAlexander?
- A. Personally, I want to be able to access content via and application, interface or device but that's a while away. For the trial we'll probably have something very simple as with the current [Kendra Network Trial] demo. --DanielHarris
- Q. Is there / will there be a fee for the service? --MayaAlexander?
- A. [Kendra Initiative] is hosted by the legal entity [Kendra Foundation] – a non-profit company recently incorporated. [Kendra Foundation] will never charge for participation in Kendra Initiative or its associated [trials]. However, as with most Internet service providers, there will probably be a fee from companies providing access to or hosting on Kendra System. You'll be paying for support, Internet bandwidth and server disk space. They may charge a flat fee or may take a cut of revenue or who knows. It'll be between you and them. [Kendra Initiative] will never be a service provider for Kendra System related services. [Kendra Initiative] is about creating the system – that's what we're doing here. --DanielHarris
- Q. Will it be possible for Kendra System to support content that does not require payment? Any plans to integrate [Creative Commons] licenses? --MikeLinksvayer?
- A. Absolutely! The content owner will just enter zero in the "payment amount required" field.
- The content owner will be able to choose any license they wish for their content. So, I guess that integrates with not only [Creative Commons] licenses but every one else's too. --DanielHarris
- A. Income will be derived solely from donations, grants and sponsorship. No services will be provided by Kendra Foundation in exchange for cash. Kendra Foundation will not be able to sell services or products or anything else. --DanielHarris
- Q. Can Kendra operate over the layers of DRM that come with itunes? Can music be downloaded from itunes (invisibly) over Kendra, and still let the user sync up the files with their ipod. --RichardSchave
- A. Some back ground... Kendra is DRM agnostic and totally inclusive. So, Kendra shouldn't legislate on the use of DRM in any way - and shouldn't get in the way of it. If content owners want to use DRM then fine. If they don't then fine too. And consumers will have the choice whether they want to purchase DRMed content too. The more rules/filters that the content owners/consumers place on their content sales/purchases then the less catalogue will flow. The market (buyers and sellers) will find the comfortable way given that it is a truly free market based on a truly open system. However, we do seek to drive interoperability between DRM systems with the aim that no matter what technology wraps the content it will be playable on any device and by any application.
- This is just the case with the codec. Kendra is codec agnostic and totally inclusive. So, also we seek to drive interoperability between codecs with the aim that no matter how the content has been encoded it will be playable on any device and by any application. In driving interoperability we seek to decouple the applications and devices from the content and online services. That means that interfaces to these applications and devices will be open and anyone can talk to any other content service via these applications and devices no matter who is the supplier - cross vendor networks working. And another area needing interoperability is the payment system.
- Now, let's look at how iTunes - or any online music store for that matter - fits into Kendra. Currently, iTunes, the application, is tied into the iTunes Music Store. You can only buy music from the iTunes Music Store using the iTunes application and you can only buy music with the iTunes application from the iTunes Music Store.
- Now, in Kendra System, we aim to see the open decoupling of the iTunes application from the iTunes Music Store. That would mean that other third party, non-Apple applications could purchase music from the iTunes Music Store and also that the iTunes application could purchase content from other third party, non-Apple music stores.
- The "open" part of the "decoupling" is crucial here to drive marketplace growth. For instance, Apple could, if they wanted to, enable a decoupling of the iTunes application and iTunes Music Store service on a selective basis only, so keeping the interfaces private by tying third party application developers or service providers to a non-disclosure agreement. This, however, is cumbersome and means that marketplace growth is limited by the speed of pushing legal paper. This process is also expensive and so a turn off to most medium sized to smaller outfits. The market grows slowly in this scenario.
- A much brighter future lies in Apple, and all the other application developers and music store providers, opening up and publishing the interface specifications for their applications and music stores. Then we will see everyone connecting to everyone else and the marketplace will grow rapidly as revenue flow increases.
- As for the iPod, well, that's just another device which we would seek to be opened up for the benefit of the marketplace. However, currently any files that are held on iTunes can be synced with your iPod so as long as iTunes is open so will the iPod. But it's all a matter of degrees and we have to start somewhere.
- So, what's Kendra's role in all this? We're here to push the industry towards a brighter, more profitable - for all - future. So, we are describing Kendra System as the system where everyone has opened up their interfaces. We are running trials where technology vendors and content owners alike can dip their toes in the cool, refreshing Kendra waters and play with and improve upon ways of interoperating their systems with each other. We are also building a collaborative design system called Kendra Base that will enable us to demonstrate how all these trials will all work together. It's an iterative process that needs much care and nurturing. But we will get there.
- Kendra is not about bringing in legislation in order to have the vision fulfilled but rather building working models, tools and demonstrations of Kendra System in order to seed the vision and bring it to reality. So, not about forcing people by law but getting them to open up of their [own volition], because it makes good business sense, works for them and drives and stabilises the marketplace, to boot. --DanielHarris
- Q. Where does Kendra fit into the standards process? --LukeRazzell
- A. The aim of Kendra is to see the creation of an open and level content marketplace - facilitating revenue generation for content owners and service providers. This aim will be achieved when there is inclusive interoperability within and between all the links in the content value chain. Interoperability is possible when businesses (including content owners, software and hardware manufacturers, comntent distributors, rights collection bodies and payment providers) publish descriptions of their interfaces in structured formats.
- By adopting open standards businesses make it conciderably easier for third parties to read and understand the descriptions and therefor interoperate with their hardware and software interfaces. Open standard description formats, such as XML and RDF, are in variuos stages of maturity. There is much work taking place in and around the W3C and other standards bodies to build open description formats. It does not seem necessary, at this time, for the Kendra project to spend effort in creating new and different open standards.
- Where action needs to be taken is in driving businesses to adopt these standards for describing their interfaces. Businesses will only move away from their current closed and/or propritary interfaces if they can see benefit to their bottom line - seeing an increase or non-decrease in their revenue. So, this is a bit of a carrot and stick approach. To show how revenue could benefit we are demonstrating interoperable models with real world participating companies. We are progressively improving these models of the content value chain based on feedback from participants.
- We are also reaching out to content owners to encourage them to describe the open and level marketplace that they wish to see created. The more presise we can be about the open marketplace definition the more we are able to measure the ability for a hardware, software or service vendor to play their part within that open marketplace framework. Hence, we can use our purchasing power to choose vendors that are more open than others. --DanielHarris
This page should be renamed "Kendra Answers"! -- DanielHarris
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