Joost: Web Version Coming This Year

About time. Way past time, actually: Joost plans to let you watch its Web video directly through a browser window, instead of requiring users to download special software. So says Portfolio, in a lengthy profile of the once-hyped company:

This year, viewers will be able to watch Joost videos in a browser window. Go to Joost's website, click on shows like Seth Green's edgy Robot Chicken or an old Rocky and Bullwinkle episode and you can watch them as easily as you'd watch a video on YouTube. Previously, all Joost users had to download and install special software. "The download may seem like a small barrier," says Brad Hunstable, co-founder of user-generated video site Ustream, "but it's a huge mental barrier."

Joost has been hinting it would finally make this move for a while. And note that Portfolio writer Kevin Maney doesn't get an Joost exec providing a launch date, etc. so it may still be a while longer. The rest of the story is a nice but basic summary of Joost's progress (disappointing) and the Web video market in general (potentially huge, more or less uncharted). Also, you can learn where Hulu CEO Jason Kilar likes to eat. Worth reading if you have downtime this Easter weekend.