4 Days to Y2K

Monday, December 27, 1999 by Dave Winer.

Einstein  

Yesterday an exhiliration, Albert Einstein was named Person of the Century by Time Magazine.

A choice that shows appreciation for thought, which is something that's underappreciated in the times we live in. The universe is stranger than we can imagine, Einstein taught. Our minds can travel to other galaxies, to the first moments of creation, not from belief or emotion or faith, but from thought. This is true power!

Choice  

FDR and Gandhi were Time's runner-ups. Both are excellent choices, but I would have chosen Women as the sole runner-up for Person of the Century. This century saw a new balance between the genders and along with it, massive change. It can be hard to appreciate how substantial the change was, since most of us were born after the shift started. There's even a technological reason, birth control. Whether you like it or not, this one invention gave women choice about parenthood. Choice is true power too.

Superfly  

An exhiliration, followed by a bitter-sweet reminder of how good the music of the sixties and seventies was. Curtis Mayfield died yesterday. I found an MPEG clip of Mayfield's Superfly and listened to it about 200 times late last night. "Darkness of night with the moon shining bright. There's a set going strong. A lot of things going on."

The web isn't perfect, I only found part of one song. With Internet startups burning millions trying to be the next Yahoo or Amazon, why doesn't someone buy up gems like Superfly and make them available for free on the Internet? Come look at our ads and we'll entertain you with golden oldies while you browse. Blue Mountain Arts meets Yahoo.

There's a huge well of undervalued intellectual property, to use the language of business to describe a feeling that's actually indescribable.

The 1999 IPOs  

At the end of last year, in the US, we impeached our President.

But that's a dim memory now.

Instead, think about the heavy heavy IPOs of 1999.

Red Hat, Critical Path, Allaire, Cobalt, Phone.Com, Akamai, and that's just the start.

Those are just the ones I think about.

Netscape acquired  

Another big event that's fading from memory.

This was the year that Netscape became the hole where the Internet used to be.

Where is the Internet now?

Microsoft is out of the way  

The focus is off Microsoft.

Key people leave for Internet startups. They grabbed dominance in web browsers without knowing what they would do with it. Office is a big smoking hulk in the middle of Microsoft.

As unncessary punctuation the US goverment intervenes. Will Microsoft be split up? The best thing that could possibly happen to Microsoft.

A gentle how-do-you-do to Amazon  

I have something to say to Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon.

Jeff, love the web, and let other companies do 1-Click ordering.

Long-term it'll work out better that way. Patents are road-blocks to the growth of the web.

If Amazon aligns itself with the growth of the web, you can't lose.

If you try to own the web, like all-things-Internet, it will route around you.

My advice is the same as my advice to Microsoft in 1997, lose the control, trust the universe, make great software, offer great service, and your shareholders can't lose.

Google's patent  

Today on Slashdot, a thread about Google's patent.

It's good that Slashdot is trawling for possible net outages.

We'd love to work with Google. Our content management software is generating lots of content to index.

I can't imagine a better partner for working out an XML-RPC interface between search engines and content systems.

I'm unhappy that Google, an excellent service, with satisfied customers, is preparing to use patents.

Harry Nilsson sang  

Brother bought a coconut, he bought it for a dime.

Sister had another one, she paid it for the lime.

She put the lime in the coconut, she drank them both up.

She put the lime in the coconut, she drank them both up.

She put the lime in the coconut, she drank them both up.

She call the doctor woke him up, and said Hey doctor!

Ain't there nothing I can take.

Ain't there nothing I can take.

Ain't there nothing I can take to relieve this belly-ache?

Doctor say Now let me get this straight.

You put the lime in the coconut and drank them both up, you called the Doctor woke him up and say Doctor ain't there nothing I can take to relieve this belly-ache?

You put the lime in the coconut and drink them both together, then you feel better, you put the lime in the coconut and drink them both together, and call me in the morning.

The web  

Sometimes I feel the web has become the Nilsson song.

Microsoft fails to be the enemy so many want.

Open Source makes people hugely rich. Who or what do you believe in now?

New companies move into place, playing the Microsoft game without the Microsoft name.

Is the Internet about money?

How many killer patents are there?

Is the web worth owning?

After navigating around the mess the software industry had become in the early 90s..

The doctor prescribes the medicine that caused the disease!

I'll let you know when I figure it out.

Happy Y2K?  

How to celebrate the new year?

I don't know.

I'm soooo confused.

Dave Winer  

PS: Apologies to those who received this email twice. A glitch in our system, not Y2K-related. Still diggin.