notes and views on crm, social media, and the human side of information technology

The Bill and Steve Show

FINALLY HAVING WATCHED the Gates/Jobs debate at AllThingsDigital, I cannot convey my disappointment. What a waste of time! Half an hour into the show when I managed to discount the natural awe coming from seeing those guys, stepping down from magazine covers and actually alive, breathing, speaking, I realized that if you want to know what’s going on inside Apple or Microsoft, you really shouldn’t be paying too much attention to their respective icons. It was all PC, all warm and Uncle Fluffy-like. To tune in and expect a sign of conflict, or even simple competition, would have been a gross miscalculation.

On the positive note, it was a useful reminder that the software industry hasn’t begun with Google. Indeed, it’s been around for a couple dozen years now, and seeing those two had me thinking, maybe the industry has matured already and became slow and steady and, yes, boring. It’s easy to say that Flickrs and Tumblrs and Fkkers are the new paradigm-breakers, the new Microsofts and Apples, if you are 18; those two surviving proofs of evolution suggest that not all revolutions succeed in uprooting the old order. They are here to stay.

June 5, 2007 | Filed Under Asides & Off-topic, Enterpreneurship, Rants | Leave a Comment 

A Saturday Rant

I’VE FELT QUITE UNEASY about my job title lately. Senior Consultant, goddamit.

In a company, you’re supposed to climb the ladder or there’s something wrong with you. So you climb. And the higher you get, the more ridiculous you feel, or maybe you don’t ‘cuz you feel high. You’ve got status, man. Super-duper consulting chief honcho.

Could I just have something like “go-to guy” or “gets shit done” line on my business card?

Status is for cowards.

March 24, 2007 | Filed Under Asides & Off-topic, Me & You, But Mostly Me, Rants | Leave a Comment 

Bratislava the Beautiful

I just got back from Bratislava where I’ve been clocking oh-too-many hours for the past 3 months, and let me tell you this: though we Czechs tend to view our Eastern neighbor as part of Western Asia, Bratislava is actually many years ahead in terms of customer friendliness and general warmth that the city radiates.

The old town is amazing. Clean, tidy, atmospheric. Bars and hangouts are plentiful. Waiters remember you and what you had the last time. The list could go on and on.

No time to elaborate now, but I’ll get back to this shortly.

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March 2, 2007 | Filed Under Asides & Off-topic, Me & You, But Mostly Me | Leave a Comment 

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