Web 2.0 Wonderland

Spent today at the Web 2.0 Conference. Lots of great stuff happening in many, many place. The steady replacement of Web 1.0 - the published web, with Web 2.0, the user created web seems to be in full stream. Many folks in attendance, lot of start-up in all modes of existence (unfunded to seemingly flush with cash), piles of great idea and an overall good buzz to the place.

I was struck by the degree to which many of the attendee's, observers and in particular vendors seem to speak a whole new "web 2.0" language. After spending the last couple years serving large conservative companies in an entirely unrelated market, I was left wondering why in the world all these interesting companies were so focused on inventing a language to communicate with each other rather than figuring out how to communicate with the larger world. Clearly we are still in early adopter wonderland here.

Full credit to the folks at tellme who launched their new blackberry voice interface with the tag line "Say what you want and get it" While the demo was less than perfect due to poor cel coverage on the show floor, it was instantly clear to everyone what they did. I suppose they could have described their new product as a portable IVR front end for mobile web applications and been technically correct, or even as a multisensory interface capability to the web 2.0 world, but then only the web 2.0 crowd would know what they did.

Say what you want and get it...sometime the simple answers are the best ones.

First Blog Post - welcome to the brave new world

Well, time to jump into the brave new world and actually try blogging, or do I simple say blog? Those who know me have gotten tired of long emails on various topics so here I go with a format that all of you should benefit from...no need for even a polite reply.

As I wrap-up my most recent venture and begin looking at new things, this seemed like a logical point to dive into the world of Web 2.0 (yes, I officially like the term - more on that another time) and start sharing some thoughts and observations on things around me.

So - as to the title of the blog "Old Dog, New Trick". Well, I recall getting out of college (Class of '81 - hence the old dog part of the name) and picking technology as a career because I enjoy change and learning new things. After 25+ years (isn't it great that after 25 years in the industry they simply stop counting the years) of exploration I still love the constant innovation and the change it brings. Moreover, these 25+ years have brought a little in term of understanding how people and organizations embrace (some would say cope) with the type of change I have a passion for. So here we go.

What's next - well who knows but I'm off to a Web 2.0 Conference on Thursday so stay tuned.