Business
Except for all the really bad parts, It’s really not that bad – Vista reconsidered
I just had this memory. Windows Vista reminds me. It reminds me of sharing a flat with an attention-starved actor as I once did in college – constantly running in to the room ‘loook at mee!’ he’d literally shout at you as you were trying to do anything else ‘No, Everybody! paaaay attention to meeeee’ [...]
Twittering the whispering revolution
Twitter is a massive signal. It’s still at least half kludgy, it’s nowhere near end-state but – the idea is going to be big. I’ve been thinking of this signal since in came across strongly in my Dead Media workshop at Lift07. But in just the last few weeks Twitter has so exploded that we [...]
Google as an example of the new human enterprise?
An old article by net standards (way back in the year 2006), but nonetheless thought-provoking on what it’s like to work for Google as a developer. Does this sound much like how your organization works?
I’m going to talk a little about Google’s software development process. It’s not the whole picture, of course, but it should suffice for today…
From a high level, Google’s process probably does look like chaos to someone from a more traditional software development company. As a newcomer, some of the things that leap out at you include:
- there are managers, sort of, but most of them code at least half-time, making them more like tech leads.
- developers can switch teams and/or projects any time they want, no questions asked; just say the word and the movers will show up the next day to put you in your new office with your new team.
- Google has a philosophy of not ever telling developers what to work on, and they take it pretty seriously….
Are we really friends? The trouble with buddy lists in social applications.
The trouble with buddy lists is that we end up collecting friends like baseball cards. Because I’m on your buddy list, it could be because we’re really closely connected, it could be because we met once at a conference two years ago, or it could be because we both tacitly just want to make ourselves [...]
Heading to SanFran March 21-25
Thanks to some friendly suggestion on our behalf, Jevon and I have been offered a spot on the roster at the Under the Radar Conference on the 23rd of March [upcoming.org]. We’ll be showing off the Firestoker project as it currently stands in development (and it’s starting to develop nicely). Secondly, if we can finagle [...]
The GoogleOS Will Have to Wait
because today Google is going after Microsoft’s other cash cow, the office suite. The Inquirer deadpans (you have to love the Inquirer): A SEARCH ENGINE FIRM called Google has released its first product which could challenge Microsoft in its own manor. The big idea is to get corporations to subscribe to its online corporate software [...]
Vista’s DRM mistake, and the decline of Microsoft Windows
Microsoft introduces Vista to area bloggers, Nov. 2006 “Microsoft Corp. shares fell as much as 2.7 percent on Friday, their biggest drop in nine months, after Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said analysts’ forecasts for fiscal 2008 revenue for Windows Vista were “overly aggressive.” Microsoft shares tumble on CEO comments -CNNMoney “A new study by Jupiter [...]
More Highlights from Lift07 #2 Colin Henderson
Speaking of Colin Henderson and Bankwatch, another person it was a pleasure to meet at LIFT was Colin Henderson. He gave a great talk titled “Bankers Can be Bloggers Too” (a subject close to my heart) and in fact you can find the presentation on the official lift presentation download page here. What stuck with [...]
Implementing Mass Collaboration in Enterprise
It’s great to hear additional perspectives on the implementation of Enterprise 2.0. We’re at early stages of this movement. Many are those who will tell you they are inspired or many will tell you they can sell you the answer. Which is why it’s great to hear real case studies grounded in results from the field. Here are my notes on Stephane Cheikh’s talk on implementing enterprise collaboration at SITA in Geneva.
more after the jump…
LIFTconference day 0: Dead Media Workshop
“McLuhan believed that all media forms are extensions of our senses, bodies, and psyches, in the way that a hammer is an extension of our hand and a book is an extension of our memory and ideas. As such, they intensify one thing in culture while obsolescing something else.” – The Imagination Challenge, pg 130
Today thanks to social media, other new innovations and 2.0 everything, we are at the point of explosion of new media in society. In the spirit of “the medium is the message”, how are/will these new media be transforming and being reflected in the structure of society itself, both in our social sphere as well as change to the nature and nvironment of work? (wow, there’s a sentence). This is the workshop I had the forture to lead at LIFT with a group of very bright people. But istead of just looking at the new media we examine these media through he lense of what they displace. What plethora of old/current media should we now consider “dead”. What are the historical precidents?
more after the jump…
BarCampBank c’est fantastique
The worlds first full-scale BarCampBank wrapped up on Saturday in Paris. About 60 Parisian Barcamp made it out (and one odd anglophone Canadian). It was great to connect with the French BarCamp crew – thanks for your excellent hospitality!
Weekend links and odds and ends
# This is a travel week, so, be prepared for the flickr onslaught… # Off to BarCampBank this afternoon, which is interesting because – do all things disruptive and 2.0 even matter to such a cozy and naturally highly structured and oligopical as banking? We shall see. On the customer-facing side, I’m curious, but it’s [...]
Why users use for users (community) not (user) Interfaces
As a longtime product designer, it’s sort of sad because i really hate that people put up with so many bad interfaces out there. But the truth is that the slickest interface -or- or the most usability does not a guaranteed success make. Many sites, many of the most popular sites on the internet are [...]
Web 2.0 is Crap and Other viable business models in the 21st century
There’s a lot of buzz these days (in certain circles) about web 2.0, some are even calling it a bubble already. Others are saying, no this time it’s real, web 2.0 [or insert meme here] it’s going to change everything. Your business model is a dinosaur. Get on board or get out of the way [...]
Thomas Purves
is a technology executive specializing digital payment systems, a futurist and sometimes entrepreneur living in the great city of 
