About the author
Dave Winer, 56, is a software developer and editor of the Scripting News weblog. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School and NYU, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.
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The Silicon Valley approach is stale 
Just had a phone talk with a smart guy, an entrepreneur with a well-funded new company. The conversation was like any conversation I'd have with a tech industry entrepreneur.
Here's what I wanted to say at the end of the conversation. "I was hoping you'd do something more courageous."
I had that talk with Nick Denton a few weeks ago, so it's not a geographic thing. His company is based in the heart of NYC.
Here's how I look at what Silicon Valley is doing, and admittedly it's from my perspective, ymmv, ianal, etc.
They started with a great idea. Let's give the users tools to create their own content. That was, depending on how you look at it, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, or 6. Since then they've been slicing the idea up into smaller bits, occupying ever-smaller niches, creating derivatives, mashing all that up, and creating more derivatives.
It's gotten terribly stale. The people are still brilliant, some of them, and there's tons of money available, more than ever, but they need some new ideas. This, unfortunately, is not something they know how to do.
8/2/2012; 11:13:20 AM.
