Joost is a new internet video source that offers professional network content rather than user created videos. Thus it is somewhat similar in nature to CBS Innertube or ABC Launch than to YouTube or Google Video. At this time there are such a plethora of such services coming out and almost all with limited or poor content one might ask, why is everyone so hyped about Joost?
Well, when I first began following Joost it wasn't because of the content. At that time the company was known as The Venice Project (a codename), and yet even at this early stage the company was attracting humongous amounts of attention. The simple answer is the minds behind Joost - the founders of Skype and KaZaa. Two extremely popular and successful applications.
The attention has proved well-founded as Joost has taken great strides to sign major content distribution deals with large networks - including channels such as Comedy Central, Spike, and National Geographic.
Joost is quickly moving towards a public launch. Recently they opened up their limited invitation only beta to an unlimited invitation beta. If you'd like an invitation to the beta Joost software, just comment on this post and I'll send you an invite.
What are my thoughts on Joost? It has potential. It feels like cable television. One sits at a channel guide and can browse through the channels and the various shows available on them. The big difference is that all the shows are available all the time. Now this could become quickly overwhelming, just as cable television can be, so another nice feature is Joost's episode guide by genre - e.g. comedy, sports, etc. I imagine this will be the primary method of navigation in the future as individuals look for "Sci-Fi", "News", "Drama", "Comedy", etc. instead of broadcast channels like USA, TNT, VH1, etc.
Joost is still pretty rough. The animations are okay, but they don't feel amazing. In the five minutes I've used the application I've managed to make it mess up twice (though not crash). Furthermore, I have found no easily visible (or for that matter, invisible) exit methodology. This really needs to be rectified.
Yada, yada...