This last week has been crazy here. First I moved, then I had eye surgery. Even so, I wrote three pieces, with three significant ideas that are interesting enough to call out separately in a follow-up piece (this one).

1. Readings from news execs. When we look at the predicament the journalism industry finds itself in, we all overlook the elephant in the room, what if it's possible to create something very much like the journalism we have now, but with reporters who earn their living doing something other than commercial reporting.

There is prior art: 1. Wikipedia and 2. software. In both cases, an activity that used to pay no longer does. In both cases we made the transition. We have a better encyclopedia that is accessible to everyone all the time, and is constantly expanding. And we are creating more software than ever, and employing more programmers, yet we no longer charge for software, or if we do, we charge very little compared to what we used to.

So yes, it is conceivable that you could get your journalism without paying for it. Now let's see how that might work. Let's at least discuss it. If it hurts the feelings of editors and reporters, so be it.

2. Why FIOS is important. The tech future is created by people who live with its limits. And when the limits are expanded for large numbers of users, you'll get new stuff. Innovation. The connectivity in homes in eastern US cities is substantially better than in the west. This isn't factored into most people's thinking when they consider advantages one area might have over the other. Symmetric connectivity allows people to operate small scale servers in their homes for no additional cost.

3. Complexity is the enemy of progress. A continuation of the series about doing open development work. This piece is one of the best-received I've ever written.

Starting tomorrow I'm hoping for a quieter existence with slightly less upheaval.

 10/20/2010; 9:58:52 PM.   .