Digital experts and well-known onlookers weigh in on the ups and downs (and in-betweens) of online downloads.
“For the average home-user, anti-virus software is a must. A personal firewall such as Zone Alarm and running a program like HFNetcheck, which is a free download for personal users. It checks your system to see if anything needs to be patched. I’d also recommend a program such as SpyCop to periodically check for any spyware on your system.” – Kevin Mitnick
“What we know is that there are apps once downloaded by the consumer that will also in turn download the consumers’ contact book. Most consumers don’t want that to happen and don’t know it’s happening.” – Kamala Harris
“People are interested in things not necessarily covered by the mainstream media, so they download things online. The categories are growing because people find out that they’re not able to get information about stories that are of interest to them on the evening news.” – Soledad O’Brien
“We need to download scientific journals and upload them to file-sharing networks.” – Aaron Swartz
“I love to read. I have a Kindle, and it’s nice to be able to download books that people refer.” – Kellan Lutz
“My kids download 10 games. They play them all for two minutes. They throw away the eight they don’t like. Then they play those last two obsessively for a month. That’s alien to those of us who buy a $60 game and play it for 40 or 50 hours. The discovery mechanism is completely social, and I don’t think you get that genie back in the bottle.” – Mitch Lasky
“A lot of things people see as innovative are faddish and fleeting, and I’m simply telling you, staying power like broadcasting has is more important in the end than the latest app you can download.” – Gordon Smith
“The forced influence of advertising has given us completely useless TV. You don’t want that on the Net. But most online information providers need to attract advertising–which slows download times and clutters the screen with windows.” – Robert Cailliau
“The day is coming when, in 45 seconds, you can download a movie.” – Brian Roberts
“It’s not completely inconceivable that someday you’ll be able to download your own memories.” – Juan Enriquez
