In particular, I am interested in the methodology by which the providers of push content will or do use to determine my preferences. If the content providers decide my preferences based on stereotyped generalities about my age, gender and income level, and then send me advertisements for sales at Marshall s Clothing Outlet, discounts on brand-name cosmetics, and cooking equipment and recipe books, I will not only turn off their access to my computer, but I will throw a stink about their sexist and condescending assumptions in every venue I can. To take the most primitive form of push as an example, one I m currently and sadly addicted to, the mailing list, we already have filters for a particular type of message we don t want. At the other extreme end of the scale, television, we zap or mute. Seems that for every new method of push, some enterprising soul comes up with a way to put the power back into the consumer s hands.
Selectivity is a service far more valuable than just about any product currently being pushed.
And so, it will win out. Nobody knows what the users think about push publishing, because nobody is using Pushing yet.