There is a shift - and it's not a little thing. Today Apple, the little engine that could announced extraordinary sales numbers. At the same time NBC announced wide ranging cuts in it's prime time and news operations. And the Wall Street Journal reviewed IE7 and proclaimed it - a copy cat of FireFox.
The shift that that's going on is a fundamental one, from large media

companies inventing and inflicting Mass Culture on 'consumers' to a society in which the passive role of 'consumer' is shifted forever into one of 'creator.'
Looking back the Apple advertisement from 1982 seems to have predicted, or at least imagined this moment.

It's hard not to believe that Google's web based suite of software and services will continue to over take Microsoft's desk bound, bloated, and slow Window's environment.

It seems entirely possible that Steve Job's iTV device - when its revealed in January - will forever change the way media is discovered, created, and shared. Worth noting here that Microsoft has had a 3 year head start with the poorly named Windows Media Extender thingy.

And Flash8 (the encoder that makes video on the web a pleasurable experience) seems to have ended the format wars between Microsoft's Windows Media, Apple's Quicktime, and Real Networks RealVideo.

The era of closed systems is coming to an end, and the era of open systems for media makers and audiences is finally here.

This is a wildly significant change, give the role that media plays in our life, our politics, our values, and the way companies try to market to us (remember - we're 'consumers' not 'customers' in current marketing parlance).

I remember the first time I used Google to place a text ad - a service called Google Ad Words that anyone can use with a credit card and a bit of knowledge. It was stunning. Google wouldn't let me use ALL CAPITALS, or an "!" or the word "FREE" - what was clear to me was that Google respected the experience of its searchers more than the few dollars I was willing to spend. It wasn't until I wrote an ad that the Google algorithms found informational (free of hype) that I was even allowed to post it.

In old media world - tv viewers were held captive by their programs and the linearity of programming. Commercials could be inane, or insulting, completely inappropriate. Viewers sat through them. But no longer. Tivo changed that forever.

The shift from MEGA Media to Me Media is already having profound effects on how people interact. YouTube is filled with personal, intimate, profound, and human interactions. People are sharing journey's, restaurant reviews, political rants, and autobiographical diary segments. They are telling each other stories.

So when Bob Wright tells the Wall Street Journal that he is preparing for NBC 2.0 he is admitting that the costs associated with making Mass Media require a mass audience in order to be a business. And its clear that the future doesn't look that inviting to big media. When NBC reacts to this trend by "Having actors do 'character blogs' after each show" the display their fundamental lack of understanding of how the media is changing. Blogs are - first and foremost - about authenticity. Actors can't write for their characters - and fictional characters can't write authentic blogs. That said, NBC has it half right- they acknowledge the shift to a 2.0 world - and they're right to consolidate and focus on shifting their focus to a new Always On world.

What does the future of media look like?

One of the smartest people I know - Yochai Benkler - has a radically different view on media. Yochai has written a number of extraordinary papers, and now a dense but gripping book LINK in which he proclaims the future of media will be "Peer Produced." Simply translated, it means your neighbors and friends will make what you watch. Your Social Network becomes your Media Network.

While at first blush this might seem charming - his vision is far more expansive than that. He says that people create things - not for money - but to fulfill other human needs. Creative needs. The need to express yourself, to be a member of society, to participate, and to have an identity. He says that media (or simply stories) are the thing we all have in common, and the thing we can all make and share. His Peer Produced media vision mirrors the growth and importance of the open source software movement. And at a moment where it appears that FireFox (not Internet Explorer) is likely to be the long term winner in browser wars - Benkler's vision takes on newfound significance.

When Apple released the SE30, and the first lazer printer - the goal was to revolutionize publishing. It did that - without a doubt. But the shift taking place from Peakock to iPod is driven by forces that are far more fundamental. For all of the romanticism lavished on the 'shared experience' of watching televison 'together' - the truth is that Mass Media did more to separate us than to unite us. What we are seeing - I believe - is the rebirth of communities on a human scale. The natural evolution is from passive, big, authoritarian content authorities (networks), to networks of friends, neighbors, co-workers, and enthusiasts.

As more and more people find they have access to the tools to become content creators - we may find the TV is being shut off more and more as people entertain and educate each other.

An open-source media future could have far reaching consequences.