RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser on the History of Streaming Media
Posted On September 25, 2014
RealCloud
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The Early Days of the Internet
Before Web 3.0 and 2.0 there was simply the World Wide Web. When our CEO & Founder, Rob Glaser, left his post as a Microsoft executive to launch his startup, Progressive Networks, websites were mostly static and text was about all you could use without lengthy downloads over 56k. Rob and his partners imagined a multimedia internet that worked seamlessly and in real time.
The Start of Online Audio & Video
Everyone loves instant streaming from Netflix and YouTube, but the technology that makes these and other online media work hasn’t been around that long. Progressive Networks became RealNetworks, and under that name we had our first claim to fame with RealAudio, which allowed real time playback of audio from the internet without downloading it. RealVideo and RealPlayer soon followed, kick-starting the streaming media revolution that allows the internet of today to exist.
Download the Interview with Internet History Podcast
Internet History Podcast has a fantastic interview with Rob Glaser where you can learn about the technical aspects of getting this new technology to work, how it came to dominate internet media playback, and many tidbits on the early years at Microsoft and many other companies that arose at that time.
