Here at MIX06 we’re getting early views of how IE7 will interface with the web. The security items look robust yet simple. Anti phishing is strong and “trusted sites” will show in green in address bar. More money for verisign but that’s OK if we can get rid of the junk.
I remain concerned MS may have been so worried about all the security problems with IE that these items may eclipse what I’m more interested in at this conference – API and Web 2.0 and mashup support from MS.
Here at MIX06 in Las Vegas we’ve learned that the MS vision of Web 2.0 remains…. unclear. Bill Gates shared his enthusiasm for upcoming MS products like the Vista OS, and now Dean H is talking up IE7.
O’Reilly asked great Web 2.0 questions but I’m not clear that Bill sees this as the new world – more as a rapidly evolving extension of the world MS helped pioneer over the past decades.
Yes, I have been to vegas several times but after finding that the stupid strip shuttles they have from the Airport could take an hour to get to my place I thought “hey, I’ll just WALK”. I walk about 2-3 miles every day so how far could it be? FAR. I suppose if I had not had backpack and a suitcase it would have not been all that bad -approx 3-4 miles I’d estimate. I walked for about 90 minutes.
But the good news is I’ve got all that excersize under my belt and now I can eat with reckless abandon. I was here in November for WebmasterWorld and boy was the food and drink ….. GOOD.
And more good news is there are some WIFI spots here so I don’t have to sign up for the usurous 9.95 per day at the Imperial Palace. I’m with Scoble in being pissed at all the high WIFI charges at Airports and Hotels. At SLC Airport I couldn’t even use the spring PCS WIFI because though I’m a sprint customer, and a PCS Vision subscriber, I’m NOT a SPRINT+ PCS VISION+ WIFI subscriber.
Show me some ads and give me free WIFI!
No Mom it’s NOT about the glitz, glamour, and free huge nightclub tabs picked up by Microsoft! It’s WORK and SOMEBODY darn well better get down to Las Vegas and do what has to be done!
MIX06 starts tomorrow morning with keynote by Bill Gates and leads into a large number of concurrent sessions which appear to be focused almost exclusively on how MS applications and future developments can be used in online applications. That’s OK because this is put on by MS, but somewhat ironically I think the concept here was to have a very “open” environment that tried to get feedback from the community about what they need, want, and where they are going. I’m anxious to see if MS is sincerely interested in ….. us.
Yahoo and Google certainly are interested as evidenced by the way they interact at other conferences. I think part of their corporate culture is to say “damn the torpedos, full speed ahead!” even when that approach could threaten some aspect of the company’s revenue. I’m not expecting this from MS but I’m hoping for greater responsiveness than they’ve shown the web community in the past.
This MIX06 post has moved here
A great movie but a bad choice to watch last night was “Leaving Las Vegas”. I’d seen it long ago and again was mesmerized by simply brilliant performances by Nick Cage, for which he won the Oscar, and Elizabeth Shue, who was nominated. But this is one of the most depressing films of all time. I also learned that the writer of the book on which this movie is based – a loosely autobiographical account of the destructiveness of alcoholism – killed himself about 2 weeks into the production of the film.
My problem with this? I’m off to Vegas in a few days for the MIX06 conference. MIX06 is Microsoft’s effort to gain some traction in the growing mashup/Web 2.0 space. It’s at the splendid Venetian Hotel and I’d rather be marvelling at the architectural extravagances and enjoying the huge MS party at “TAO” than worrying about how many of the people walking the street are doomed to untimely and lonely deaths at the hands of their obsessions.
What a disappointment to read New York Magazine’s John Heilemann on Bill Gates and what he sees as a softening of Gates that has led to a weakening of Microsoft.
Like most tech oriented folks I’ve never been a big MS fan, but ever since hearing Gates on Charlie Rose discuss development with a passion he used to reserve for monopolizing the PC industry I’ve been a huge fan of his and was thrilled to see the media attention, albeit very BRIEF media attention, following the Time award.
Rather than laud him for shifting his generally brilliant focus from software to world health, Heilemann focuses very narrowly on what he sees as the demise of Microsoft.
It’s a dubious premise at best (watch their unique Neural Network search triumph in about 1- 2 years as a fantastic tool), but even if it’s true that Microsoft is dying the challenges are not related to Gates philanthropy or even Gates himself as much as they are the result of the tidal waves of online innovation and change sweeping away old business structures and new and old companies alike.
I expect more from elite magazines, but like most in our sad and superficial corporate media New York Magazine fiddles while the developed world burns, and like mainstream TV media focuses more on a notable’s celebrity while the celebrity, in this case Gates, heroically tackles real and pressing global problems with unprecedented success.
Shame on Heilemann, shame on New York Magazine, and Bravo to Bill Gates.
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UPDATE: John Heilemann very courteously replied to my rant at length in the following email in which he also had to correct my mistake calling NEW YORK MAGAZINE the “NEW YORKER”.
> On 1/10/06, John Heilemann wrote:
joe —
sorry you were disappointed, but at least you can let the New Yorker off the hook — i’m a columnist for New York Magazine, an entirely different publication.
i wrote a book about the microsoft antitrust trial, so i have some views about the company, its past behavior, and future prospects.
maybe we can just agree to disagree on some points there.
but while it’s true that i didn’t devote the bulk of my column to
praising gates for his philanthropic work — a point of view i
considered pretty fully covered by Time’s Person of the Year cover
story — it’s not like i didn’t acknowledge the point:
“By all accounts, Gates has emerged as the most influential philanthropist on the planet; with a $29 billion endowment this foundation is setting new standards for both generosity and rigor in tackling an assortment of the world’s most dire maladies, from malaria to HIV.”
“Gates’s consolation is that his opportunity to be a transformational figure isn’t lost with Microsoft’s abeyance. This is not a trivial thing. Gates has already changed the world once; now, through his foundation—which is not only disgorging a gusher of funds but inventing a new model for philanthropy, driven by statistics, leverage, and an insistence on accountability—he has a chance to do it again. And as Bono told Time, “The second act for Bill Gates may be the one that history regards more.”
sorry if this is insufficient — but please don’t accuse me of
ignoring the good that gates is doing with his charitable endeavors.
jh
Joe Duck 