Friday, January 14, 2000

Comments from Microsoft people on today's DaveNet.

Susan Kitchens visits with her 99-year-old grandpa.

Are all sneaker websites horribly complex? Let's start with Nike and New Balance. Sneakers are pretty simple. How about a plain GIF or JPEG of a sneaker as your image on the home page. Fast loading, eloquent, satisfying.

We've been playing with logo ideas for Pike, and for some reason, I think of a sneaker when I think of Pike. It's a little extra work to edit your page, it's like taking a little hike, but it's worth it when the design work is complex or requires more a focused writing tool. I know this is confusing, just what is Pike? If you're a Manila user you'll find out soon, I know I'm a tease, but that's my job. Someone's gotta do it!

On my behalf, Bob Bierman asks about wireless Internet access in Davos. I'd like to be able to post updates thru the web from my seat in the audience. I'd also like the notes to be available to people in Davos who have WAP phones.

Press release on Seybold speaker lineup. Philip Greenspun is also keynoting. I'll be glad to finally meet him. We share a lot of the same vision for what the Web will be.

I can't help it. I'm focused on sneakers today. Everywhere I go I see them.

DavosNewbies: "Davos is going to be WAP enabled. Those with WAP phones will be able to get CNN, Dow Jones and Reuters headlines, and the entire programme will be available through WAP. The Europeans reckon they're showing the Americans something about technology." It's twue it's twue.

WAP Today, one of the most promising early EditThisPage sites, is once again updating. A note from Dan Garner, the editor of the site: "We've suffered at the hands of the terrible flu epidemic in the UK. Added to the extended New Year holidays, most things WAP have been on the back burner. However, I'm pleased to say that we're now back on track." Glad!

LinuxNewbies on the Linux kernel.

WebReference.Com: JavaScript Cookies.

Matthew Rothenberg: Skins vs Suits in Cupertino.

Brad Pettit: "It's *my* Macintosh."

Doc Searls: "The influence of customers and users will be held in even higher contempt."

NY Times: "I think I'd be genetically unable to back away from running my business," said the renowned investor Warren E. Buffett, a friend of Mr. Gates. "But Bill will do it. He is just that sort of a fellow. And Microsoft will get much more value from him. He will spend his time thinking while Steve marshals the troops and charges ahead."

Newsweek: "Today, for the second time in a week, we saw history. AOL owns Time Warner. Bill Gates no longer is CEO of Microsoft. What next?"

Moral Defense of Capitalism: FAQ on the Microsoft Anti-Trust Case. "What would it mean, by contrast, to decree that the buyer has a right to dictate the terms on which he wants to buy a product? To do so would be an assault on the rights of the seller. It would transform the seller into a servant, there to take orders dictated by the buyer."

Cringely: "I saw it as AOL buying an insurance policy against the failure of the so-called Internet century."