What does Cisco, Joost, and Google Knols have in common? Actually, the first two have something in common. The third is just something I wanted to add to this post.

There has been an exodus of sorts ongoing over at router-maker Cisco Systems. Some of the top executives have finally realized, after their successes in their respective departments, that in order for them to become the head honcho, the big cheese, the top dog, they would have to find another company that will let them be one. The current CEO of Cisco is still a bit young and will be retiring in about nine years or so. Then the number two fills in the vacated position, if he decides to wait, that is. Then that’s another 16 years for the next guy to become CEO. If you are one of the executives waiting to become CEO, I don’t think you’re good enough and wise enough to become one if you decide to wait your turn. CEO’s don’t become one because they waited it out. They become CEO’s because they grabbed the opportunity. And when an opportunity comes, you grab it. Source

So what does Cisco and Joost have in common? Well, one of the executives that left Cisco has joined Joost as its new CEO. For those who have no idea what Joost is, it’s basically free TV over the Internet. All you need is the Joost software and a broadband Internet connection. People in the US are lucky as some shows can only be seen if you have a US-based IP address. And most of the shows that are exclusive in cable can only be viewed that way. Hopefully, Joost will be able to find a way to distribute all the content globally, without depending on the content’s geographical copyright restrictions. That’s something to look forward to in 2008. Source

Unrelated to the above, but included here because I wanted to include it here, is Google Knols. Knols stand for units of knowledge, and by that, it’s basically some sort of a re-organized Wikipedia. The difference, as Google said, is that it is more author-focused. Meaning, whatever an author publishes, it remains theirs. However, if somebody edits your content extensively to the point that the original is hardly recognizable at all, would it still be the author’s? How extensive should the edits be for the knol to still be considered the author’s? Source

Anyway, Joost is certainly something to look forward to. Cisco is definitely brimming with talent because nobody’s worrying about the vacated positions as they can fill it from their pool of executives. Google is definitely targeting Wikipedia. But that’s just me talking.