Sunday, February 27, 2005

Jef Raskin died last night. Via Kottke. He struggled to see his vision implemented, and in the end it was a compromise. Raskin wanted computers to be radically simpler, not just evolutionarily simpler. The Macintosh, a project which he started at Apple, morphed when Steve Jobs took it over to become the evolutionary computer it is. Not sure who was right, but Raskin didn't live to see his vision implemented. To me it's a poignant moment, Raskin is a contemporary. The edge is moving through my generation. No way we're going to die before we get old. 

The ocean was angry today. 

Jef Raskin: "The popular media has a poor track record of presenting the recent history of technology." 

To me, Florida feels like Silicon Valley, with hotter weather, closer to the beach, and without the traffic. And real estate is more reasonable too. I often get confused, thinking I'm in Palo Alto. When I realize I'm not, it's a good feeling.  

Rebecca MacKinnon, a Gmail user, has the top hit for Gmail down. Apparently Gmail goes down from time to time, but Google doesn't communciate with users. 

We're not having a serious discussion about the Google AutoLink feature. Boing Boing points to a sarcastic non-refutation of my piece. If this is the best we can do, we deserve what we get. To the BB people, Google hasn't drawn any kind of line, saying where this can't go. And consider what heat would be generated if what Google is doing to us were done to Google. Can I put up a Web app that scrapes Google and replaces their ads with mine, or adds mine to theirs? Could Microsoft? Could AP or the New York Times? When you take that first step down the slope, take a good look at what's further down the hill, because you're going there for sure. I keep hoping for intelligent discourse in the tech blogging community, it's still pretty rare. And to Yoz, I care, but I'm not obsessed. I think I'm looking out for you, how about helping out? Same with anyone else who publishes on the Web. 

Scoble asks Cory Doctorow to take another look at AdLink. 

John Robb says give it up, but then demonstrates why we shouldn't. I hadn't thought of the connection between Scoble and John, it's true John put in the early work to flesh out the idea of business blogging, and Scoble gets the lucrative book deal. I never would have put that together had John not made the point. In our society it's considered rude, by some, to claim your achievements. Not here. Not with me. If you invented something that proved useful, I want to know. On the other hand, if you point this out to Scoble, I bet he'll do what he can to pass some of the juice to you. (And if it's any consolation, you have company. I'm net-negative on blogging, by several million dollars. I'll never recoup the financial investment.) 

A little story. I was at a meeting with potential investors when the Fortune article hit, with all the bloggers on the cover. We had just said I was one of the leaders of the blogging revolution, and one of the investors pulled out the magazine, as if to ask why my name and picture weren't in the piece. It does hurt when you don't get the credit. It limits how much you can do in the future. It determines who gets the money to pursue their ideas. It's not something to brush aside so easily. It matters. 

Steve Burgess said: "It doesn't matter who gets credit." I don't agree. "In academia, for example, trying to take credit for someone else's work is called plagiarism, and it's very serious. You can lose your job if you're caught doing it. The rules are different in the commercial world. If you have a patent and someone tries to use it without your permission, you have a good case for damages, and money may change hand." 

Today's moving day, out of a hotel and into a house, which won't have Internet access until tomorrow morning, knock wood, praise Murphy. Starbuck's is not too far away, so there may be a chance to get mail, check the aggregator, and, if the spirit cooperates, upload a podcast.  

Thanks to Halley for the kind words about my contribution to podcasting, as well as Adam's. This gives me a chance to say that I've not tried to write Adam out of the story. Quite the opposite, I think his contribution was essential, and not just in the last half-year. Podcasting appears to everyone but a small number of people, to be an instant wonder. But the trail goes back a long way. It took a lot of iteration and patience to make it happen. As I write this a bunch of other future "instant wonders" are in gestation. There will be a time when they will move to the top of the stack and be the engines of growth for the tech industry. Markoff will write stories about them too, explaining how his friends have finally figured out how to make money from them as if it was the responsibility of every technology to make John Doerr even richer. I'd like people to be more open-minded about these ideas, while they need help to get started. In hindsight, podcasting could have happened much sooner if people just would have listened. 

One of my first podcasts was a response to a shitstorm that Halley and a few others fed. It was an attempt to get my perspective into a jihad against me. It didn't work then. I have been very wary of having anything to do with the primary feeders of that storm, but enough time has passed. We won't be friends, but I can acknowledge kindness, and be appreciative of it. A lot of people use me as a foil to express their rage, but I'm actually just a person. It's not fair, and it hurts, but it comes with the turf. 

7 years ago today: "It's RPC over HTTP via XML. I believe it's the next protocol for runtimes." That piece began the work with Microsoft that led to XML-RPC and then SOAP. It was the next protocol for runtimes. 

Who do I have to blow to get ads on audio.weblogs.com?