Sunday, January 08, 2006

Paul Boutin on a back-stage presscon with the top brass at Google and some big press guys and bloggers. Interesting that, according to Boutin's notes, Schmidt issued a non-denial denial on whether they're making a PC. Me, I don't think it's necessary that they do that, but I do think it's necessary that they protect their rear by keeping users happy with search. Microsoft doesn't overwhelm smaller competitors by bundling, that's just a tactic, a distraction. Microsoft wins by doing the 2.0 upgrade to their competitor's meat and potatoes. It happened with Digital Research, Lotus, Apple, WordPerfect, Novell and the most famous of them all, Netscape. They all forgot about their users. It's happening again with Google. Usually they don't need any help from Microsoft to end up on the scrap heap, they do it to themselves. If you want an indicator that Google is bucking the trend, look for improvements to Google search. 

My list of predictions for 2005. 

Jeff Jarvis reviews Guy Kawasaki's new VC blog. 

Michael Kinsley on the future of news papers. 

10AM Pacific arrived safely at SFO. 

Good morning from Boston's Logan Airport, where the wifi costs $7.95 for a day and there's no Tmobile. Getting to the airport for a 6:15AM flight is an exercise in patience. Lots of other sleepy people around. It's 2:20AM in SF as I write this. The middle of the night.  

Some guy asked why they have airplanes that leave this early. I said if it isn't a red eye, maybe it's the blue foot. One way to adjust is to think of it as a very late night flight instead of such an early morning flight.  

I just changed from an aisle seat to a window seat. Heard a weather forecast, clear skies from coast to coast. Could it be? 

It's cool that so many old friends are picking up the OPML Editor. Some experienced programmers, so the bug reports are getting very good (which makes it easier for me to fix the bugs) and people with experience using Frontier and Manila. These people can all be of much help now. I think the reason they're coming online now is because of NewsRiver.  

Anyway, last night's workaround seems to have worked, so the next time I work on the code I'll be integrating the podcatcher component I've been working on.  

Another project I want to do is to modernize the project you get when you create a new Tool. This will help people get started writing their own (new) apps. I can see that there's already a demand for that.