Scripting News for 2/22/2006

Betsy Devine playing the guitar in her early 20s. Babe! 

Jackson West: “San Francisco coffee shops are where to get your startup off the ground.” 

Thanks to Eric Norlin for the kind words about the RSS 2.0 roadmap. 

Scoble is hanging out with Joe Trippi, formerly of Dean For America, in Seattle. He looks tan, fit and relaxed.  

Why formats like RSS 2.0 work 

The roadmap of the RSS 2.0 spec, a piece of text that I thought about for years, but actually wrote in just a few minutes, has been the key to keeping RSS a stable platform for people to build on.

There have always been people who feel that the roadmap should be broken, but it hasn’t been broken, and it won’t be, because now there’s a huge community that has invested billions of dollars around its assumptions.

The roadmap actually encourages risk, but some people always seem to want to have their ideas accepted without taking the risk. They think they can make something better than RSS and shouldn’t have to go through the same vetting process that RSS itself went through. Now, it may be possible that after three years in the market, that RSS 2.0 could be radically improved, but the roadmap says that no person or group of people has the exclusive right to improve it, and that no one can interfere with the stability of the platform. That’s no different if you work for a small company or large, or don’t work for a company at all.

Yet the roadmap provides two paths for people who wish to radically improve on RSS. You can extend it through namespaces, or you can take the format and make a new format as an evolution, but you must not call that RSS.

These constraints have served us well. They have kept the platform stable, so Microsoft could take two years to adopt it from top to bottom in their Windows operating system, and not have RSS change while they did their work. Small companies also need time to get their ideas, built on top of RSS, to market, to build their teams, and win customers, and compete with others, not on compatibility, but on value to customers: price, performance, service.

This is what we all have to live with, me, you, everyone involved in RSS. No one has the exclusive right to determine the path forward for RSS, you may influence but you may not decide. You have to sell your ideas, they are not mandates.

Scripting News for 2/21/2006

What I don’t get is why should anyone care if people know that they’re using RSS. Let’s get real for a minute. The benefit of new technology is what matters, not that people know the details of how the technology works. I have a GPS system in my car and have a vague idea of how it works. I love the benefit, I really can’t drive without GPS anymore (I’ve tried). Give me more technology like that and I’m happy. And if I don’t have to grok its inner-workings before I get the benefit, I’m even happier. As the guy who drove adoption of RSS, I’m proud of the fact that millions of people get the benefit, that’s why I did it, not for the glory of knowing they know the details.  

Six Apart is “beginning the process of submitting TrackBack to the Internet community and establishing TrackBack as a standard.”  

Look at all the podcasts at UC-Berkeley. 

Lisa Williams has a video tutorial for Reading Lists.  

The Kojo Nnamdi show on WAMU is an excellent NPR call-in show. He’s a great discussion leader, handles the hardballs, and the wingnuts, and even brings the most extreme liberals back to reality. Today his show, at Noon Eastern, is about Wikipedia. I bet it’s going to be great. Since WAMU has a very good webcast, I wonder if posting about this show two hours before it airs, will effect the show. Scripting News readers are very informed about Wikipedia, on all sides of all issues related to the tool. So they should, theoretically, get some better calls. If you call in, let me know. (Tuesday shows are podcast.) 

News.com: “The Ricky Gervais Show is moving to a paid-only format to be sold by audio book specialist Audible.” 

Okay this is scary. Young children, avert your eyes. I asked Scoble about this. He says he’ll do anything to get the sale.  

Notes for groups interested in RSS

Last night I posted several notes in response to a post by Paul Montgomery. We’re at an interesting point in the life of RSS, where several small companies, Newsgator, SixApart, SocialText, Feedburner and Technorati may be trying to control the evolution of the format.

1. I think the Roadmap of the RSS 2.0 spec provides very clear instructions to anyone working in this area. I haven’t heard anything from this new group that says they aren’t respecting the Roadmap, so until I hear otherwise I’m going to assume that they are.

2. It’s possible that a new format, based on RSS 2.0 could be an improvement, but any person or group attempting to do that must not in any way claim the exclusive right to do so, nor should it in any way attempt to interfere with the stability of the RSS platform. No one has the right to do that. RSS 2.0 is what it is. You can extend it through namespaces, that certainly is one way forward. You can take the format and make a new format as an evolution, but you must not call that RSS. That set of constraints has served us well.

3. I initiated the transfer of the RSS 2.0 spec from UserLand to Harvard in 2003 because ownership of the spec by a commercial entity such as UserLand had become a political issue on the mail lists and weblogs. I wanted RSS to have a future unencumbered by these concerns.

It concerns me to see five companies, Newsgator, SixApart, SocialText, Feedburner and Technorati, give themselves special position among the many companies using RSS, especially since UserLand unilaterally gave up its special position with respect to RSS. It seems to me this is an issue that should be discussed publicly.

4. I would also like to know what interests the other members of this group have. Are they receiving money from the companies? Do they have any conflicts of interest? Do they assume a responsibility to disclose any conflicts of interest?

Scripting News for 2/20/2006

Essay: Notes for groups interested in RSS. 

Amyloo is picking up the ball on the website and docs for the 1.0 release of the OPML Editor. It’s going to be a community project. I plan to do some work on the docs, but I have my hands full as the development lead. I really appreciate that Amy is willing to help out here.  

A year ago, an album cover for Scripting News? 

Seattle P-I: “Check out the Podcast Hotel.” 

New header graphic, it’s actually a re-run of the New Orleans jazz funeral that appeared in September. At the time, the devastation of New Orleans was still fresh news. Today, many months later, it’s still news, but the wound is getting old.  

Scripting News for 2/19/2006

OPML Editor: NewsRiver is part of the package.  

I’ll be watching Mashup Camp via the web. A lot of people are going to be there, coming from all over the US. I’ve had a really hectic last few days, looking forward to reading and resting. Hope y’all have a great time! 

Mike Arrington: “Friends should be to make your life richer, not assets to be leveraged.” 

Five years ago: Internet 3.0. 

Dan Farber on the Naked TechCrunch party. 

Wes Felter says someone needs to fact-check William Safire’s ass because he did a sloppy report on blogging jargon.  

The avian flu makes its first appearances in France, Iran and India; and a pillow fight in Union Square in NYC (via Fred Wilson). 

I’m having lunch today with Rick Segal to pick up more after-the-party gossip. I wish I could be as invisible as he was at the party. And to think of all the years I spent wishing to be less invisible. Life’s not fair, I tell you.  

 

Blogging is part of life

I agree with the author of the Slate piece that’s getting so much play in the blogosphere, up to a point. The things that called themselves blogs that came from Denton and Calacanis are professional publications written by paid journalists that use blogging software for content management. That’s fine and I suppose you can call them blogs, but don’t get confused and think that their supposed death (which itself is arguable) has anything to do with the amateur medium that is blogging. They’re separate things, on separate paths with different futures.

To say blogging is dead is as ridiculous as saying email or IM or the telephone are dead. The blog never belonged on the cover of magazines, any more than email was a cover story (it never was) but that doesn’t mean the tool isn’t useful inside organizations as a way to communicate, and as a way for businesses to learn how the public views them and their competitors.

Blogs are where new businesses will spring from. Think of blogs as being like dorm rooms, and remember that’s where Dell Computer came from. Blogging communities are incubators. Some communities incubate negative stuff, plenty of those, but occasionally a blogging community serves as the launching pad for something good. There will be a steady stream of those, and they will be on the cover of magazines, and will belong there.

Scripting News for 2/18/2006

An important update for OPML Editor users. 

William Safire on blogger jargon. 

In a few short weeks Guy Kawasaki has turned from a blog skeptic to a blog evangelist. He’s what I call a Natural Born Blogger. He knew how to blog before he knew he knew. :-) 

They’re playing some excellent music on Saturday night on WAMU. This is my favorite NPR station so far. Lovin it. 

Jason Calacanis describes a harrowing attempted landing at Telluride, CO. I’ve flown into that airport, and I agree, it’s better to fly into Durango and drive a few hours.  

A behind the scenes look at Tony Kahn doing a podcast at WGBH-Boston. They call Tony one of the “twelve pioneers of podcasting,” which is certainly true. Tony was the first NPR podcaster, and NPR has turned out to be a fantastic supporter of the medium.  

Pictures from last night’s TechCrunch party.  

Dan Farber snapped a silhouette of Kevin Werbach and myself talking at last night’s party. 

Steve Gillmor has developed a new kind of spray. 

Rafe Needleman: “This could work out nicely.” 

Seven years ago, my news editing control panel which was the beginning of browser-based weblog editing (before they were called weblogs, of course). This led to, later that year, Edit This Page, and later yet, Blogger and Manila.  

Essay: Blogging is a part of life. 

ZDNet: “Apple Computer appears to have invoked the DMCA to stop the dissemination of methods allowing Mac OS X to run on chips from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.” 

Jeff Jarvis: “Blogs have already become prisoners of their format.” 

0xDECAFBAD: “Reviving AIM and Jabber services in the OPML Editor would sure be swell.” Agree. 

Friday night’s party was great, huge, exhausting. Saw a huge number of old familiar faces, and met a bunch of new people. Lots of cameras, podcasters, and babes! Saw some creative clothing, and snarky snarks. Lots of sights to see. Had to leave early cause I was getting crushed in the crush. If I missed you so sorry, and Mike thanks. The tent was great too. Highlight of the evening — 3 generations of Scobles. 

Bonus photo: Proof that Scoble has absolutely no pride. :-) 

 

Scripting News for 2/17/2006

New Flickr set: A pre-party visit to TechCrunch HQ. 

PC World on podcasting. 

This afternoon’s lunch talk at Yahoo went great. I wonder if they’ll provide an MP3. 

I ordered an iPod for a friend, it shipped the same day from Shanghai! 

Clearing something up 

John Palfrey: “Nothing has changed from the perspective of Harvard, which is the owner and trustee of the RSS 2.0 spec.”

5/18/04: “It’s got a very conservative mission, to answer questions about RSS, to help people use it, to promote its use. It’s basically a support function.”

Anyone wishing to understand the status of the RSS 2.0 spec should just refer to the two bits linked to above.

1. The spec is owned by Harvard. 2. The RSS Advisory Board, when it existed, performed a support function. Later, in case anyone was still confused, we disclaimed: “It does not own RSS, or the spec, it has no more or less authority than any other group of people who wish to promote RSS.”

So people and companies who think they were invited to be on some kind of standards body that owns the spec were sold a Brooklyn Bridge. Hope they didn’t pay too much for it.

What’s rotten about tech conferences

Marc Canter explains why it’s so ridiculous that leading tech conferences sell speaking slots. I agree with almost everything he says. Here’s my two cents.

First, it’s okay to make money, really, I’m not just saying that. I like to make money myself, and a good portion of my time is spent trying to make money, and sometimes I actually do. So I’m not preaching purity, and I don’t begrudge the conference promoters their profit. They run commercial conferences, they’re supposed to make money. But like Marc, I think it’s a waste when I see all those people come together to find out what’s new, and see that the most important stuff, the stuff that requires the most cooperation, the stuff that I’m totally sure these guys are all going to be basing their businesses on next year and the year after, isn’t there at all. They just don’t include it.

See, that doesn’t make sense to me. Squeezing out the new technology to make room for more paying keynoters is over-the-top greed. It’s just unacceptable. Like I said, no problem with making money, but there has to be a limit. A few years ago it was RSS, then podcasting, this year it’s OPML and reading lists. This stuff is never there, it’s always something else.

They say it’s because they don’t like me. That’s so childish and is no excuse. The technology matters, people who reduce it to personalities are people who are covering up the fact that they don’t have a clue about the technology. Imho, of course.

Make way, conference promoters, serve the people who come to find out about new technology, instead of milking them like cash cows. Ultimately it will make your business better, but for now you should do it because it’s the honest thing to do.

Scripting News for 2/16/2006

Essay: What’s rotten about tech conferences. 

Ernie the Attorney: Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffet, Paul Simon, Keith Urban and Bob Dylan at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, April 28-30 and May 5-7. 

WSJ: Amazon Plans Music Service To Rival iPod. 

Firefox started misbehaving, so I thought — let’s go download a fresh install. Guess what’s waiting for me: no choice but to install the Google Toolbar. Remember what they said about their hack, if you don’t like it, don’t install it. Well, there it is. Where’s the choice now. Back then I couldn’t get anyone to listen. Letting Google modify our content to add links to their sites was a very bad idea then, now maybe others get that too? Now that they’re doing it for the Chinese censors. Why do you guys trust Google so much. They’re a corporation; they’ll do whatever they have to do to make money, do you think the integrity of your writing is even the smallest little issue for them? I don’t. Now here I am and so are you. Someday you’ll have to run the Google Toolbar. Today I don’t have to, I can accept a misbehaving browser, or I can learn how to uninstall it after the fact (good luck, I still have some Google crap from the Desktop Search product that I can’t uninstall), or switch to another browser, or back to Windows. At least Microsoft isn’t fucking with my integrity (and yours) the way Google is. 

Follow-up, that was an adware site which I got to through Google. Actually makes it even worse. Google behaves more and more like a spammer. And trust has value too. Microsoft tried to get us to use Passport after they had been caught killing Netscape. No one would trust them after they became an outlaw company. So when you push the limits of the trust of your users, eventually it does cost your shareholders. Something for Google’s board to think about.  

I’ve started to listen to WAMU, the NPR station in DC. I’ve gotten tired of WBUR, the same old people, same endless pledge drive. I also like WAMU because they have Diane Rehm. She’s so good she could be a blogger. :-) 

I’m starting to get a new release of the OPML Editor together, as part of the release I asked Andre Radke to prepare a download for the kernel source. The OPML Editor is an open source app, licensed under the GPL. There is a developer’s mail list and a Sourceforge project, but I wanted to get a single place to download a snapshot of the source on the last release of the OPML Editor, and this is it.  

Ed Vielmetti helped me when I was first exploring the web in 1994 and 1995. When web hosting was a mystery to me, he gave me some space on his server so I could experiment with the beginnings of content management on my side. It’s interesting to watch him explore the world of outline-based blogging. And it was just in this last week that the OPML equivalent of weblogs.com started reaching a critical mass, when you’d go there during the day and often see that 10 interesting blogs had updated. I told Amyloo in her chatroom hack that by the end of March there would be 100, and then 500 and so on. OPML has the feeling of something that has taken root and is growing on its own.  

Yesterday I wrote “The pros have gotten lazy, they only take the stories fed to them.” I got a bit of pushback, via email, from pros who think that there might be exceptions to that rule. Yeah there might be, but they’re rare, and too much is made of them. It’s been a long time since a political leader has been brought down by an investigative reporter, and god knows there have been plenty worth bringing down. We routinely get stories in the blogosphere that we can’t get the pros to run with. Why? Yeah, sometimes they generate their own stories, but when do they generate one that bucks conventional wisdom? When do they inform us about what’s really going on? When don’t they just chip at the edges? When do they have the guts to explain how things really work? The answer — it never happens. And for every rare heroic act there is also the reporter who is on the payroll of his or her source. So, yeah, I stand by the statement. The pros are lazy, they aren’t doing their job. Wish it weren’t so. 

One year ago today: “There are business guys who think a good deal is one where they make all the money and you make none.” 

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