MS KeyStone Part 3

Date: June 24, 2005 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Again, dear readers, please accept my apologies for the multiple posts for the MS discussion – wifi was spotty, there was a lot and I didnt want a page that was 25 screens long

Comments from the crowd:
Marc Canter – more than one feed in a page?
MS – Yes there will be a way to nail it. Devs need to do a lot before they get to the cool stuff

Subscribe – blogs and news
Subscribe – podcasting
take all the stuff – content delivery
feeds of content
audio, music, photos, video, – calendar – any kind of file type

Microsoft’s overall message is ALL CONTENT CAN BE SYNDICATED.

great stuff is gonna happen
2 examples – 1 calendaring, one photos
Subscribe to a calendar item at a conf (tons of comments re: hcal and vcal…)

enclosures are powerful, and this is about all media types

(side by side calendars) – in outlook now
pull up gnomdex cal (from the website)
create rss feed for calendar with each slot (appointment) an rss element
publisher (gnomedex) creates feed
synch engine downloads the feed as enclosure
ics files and populates it into outlook
create a folder for the feed, promotes ics files as attachements for the cal
cal files will travel thru and put it in outlook – something changes? PRESTO

ical comments from the crowd

every app in MS’s longhorn will be rss enabled

apps should understand it naturally, part of their dna
definitely promotes the idea of aggregatoreverywhere

MS KeySTONE Part 2

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

We are the first audience to see longhorn IE7.

In the browser window (in the chrome), when the browser finds an RSS feed it will identify the feed in the browser window. This gives preview of the feed.

Sitting in front of 2 Firefox guys – the commentary is hysterical (and will not be repeated)

some sites have a lot of content, and you can still add the page to favs, or add the rss feed to your opml list. Thru the browser you can can browse and subscribe to a feed.

Search is also enabled in the rss implementation (what the PubSub guy calls ‘prospective search’). You can, with IE7, subscribe to results of search in MSN search – lets say ‘gnomedex’ and have it updated every time there is new news about gnomedex thru the MSN search (not earth shattering… but still cool)

MS wants to make RSS a part of the users everyday activity

platform independent? – amar subscribes to the sites, not ie subscribes to site. (note – but is it portable?)

common feed list (not sure if this is OPML or not)- any app with browser, agg, can have access to the subscriptions, all exposed to Windows APIs -> this is the killer ALL EXPOSED TO WINDOWS APIS

Synchronization is built in.

RSS bandit – agg writtent by Dare Abesanjo (another cool person to meet!)
synchronize the rss bandit feedlist with the system feedlist

common feed list, and the disc of sites

all apps (ALL MS APPS) participate in the common feedlist

Microsoft Keystone

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

The following is my recording of theKeySTONE presentation at this years Gnomedex. I am not a typist so these can never be construed as quotes.

Dean Hachamovitch and Amar Gandhi from the Microsoft IE7 team are giving the second keynote/presenation. We are still off wifi. Dean’s profile from the gnomdex.com website:

Dean Hachamovitch – Who turned Clippy off in Office? The same guy who helped invent autocorrect and red squiggles (among other things) while spearheading Office user interface development in the 1990s, and then re-invigorated Microsoft’s online casual games business during the dot-com meltdown. In a nut-shell, he’s Chris Pirillo’s kind of geek. He’s now the General Manager of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team and driving Internet scenarios for Longhorn. Dean will talk about:

* How the future of the web is no longer just “browse”
* Why “really simple” is a good idea
* What Longhorn will deliver to make this easier for end-users, developers, and publishers

Hysterical – These guys are wearing Longhorn RSS t-shirts (click here).

Dean just showed the photo of the MS Campus (ITS THE DEATHSTAR)… his office is by the Crater. “its an artist rendering based on what some of you have written in your blogs”

Syndication is powerful, syndication is amazing

Syndications history within the halls of Redmond:
1997 – active desktop and channels
2002 – Don Blox
2003 – hired Scoble
“Scoble is actually a platform”
2004 – Scoble gets a camera – Channel 9 starts

MS is trying to get on the cluetrain
MSN Spaces has 14 million users

It all started with Browsing and then Searching

browse (limited)
Search (a lot of upside to go)

The next big leap is SUBSCRIBE
It is an evolution. Subscribe is not just a feature – a new approach to how we acquire, process, analyse and use information. Browse and search didnt go away, but they are specific (think 3 leg stool)

When veryone gets it they will subscribe, they will still browse and search
(my note – but subscribe is the marketers dream – the right message and the right time to the right person – and the citizen media guy’s dream – ON MY TERMS)

subscription is powerful – like TiVo – i am never surfing the same way again (my note – and I dont surf the same way now – more immediate, more on demand, more on my terms).

We (Microsoft and the devs) believe in subscribe deeply

users -> Longhorn -> Developers
are all betting big on RSS for devs and end users

Right now there are not enough who see it and get it (both sides of the user/dev continuum)

MS is betting on three things – making sure throughout windows the experiences are rss enabled and so that “RSS is EASY” (my note – hello dialtone)

MS has been in discussion with Dave Winer and others

Today – blogs and news “you guys already get it” – this is for everyone else

Amar giving view at longhorn

more to come… (due to the length of these posts, I have split them up and numbered them. Sorry, but they were getting huge).

Daves Presentation

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

His presentation was fun by itself… if connectivity was on point it would have been truly great.

The conversation was excellent.

I am so sorry I tripped Dave when he walked in the room.

I really cant wait for the next Bloggercon (this time I am going).

Dave Winer Keynote Part 2

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Dave has open sourced his new outliner/OPML editor and wants to open it up to the world

Throw some tools in the mix – play and present probs with solutions.

Uses that are possible include groupware, project management, front end to your blogging software, making structured lists, writing outlines, narrating your work, telling a story, participation.

When you are narrating the work, you are more organized and you will use it more. Dave uses his experience at Userland as an example of how well it works in a team/proj/dev environment.

Features up to us

Dave wont force his vision on others

Dave Winer Keynote

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Dave Winer takes the stage to a ton of applause.

Today he is talking about software, and his common theme of Developers and Users partying together. He will be doing his keynote in Unconference style (his fav thing). It is patterned after the blogosphere – no speakers, no panels, no audience, not top->down, just a conversation. Dave believes that regardless of how smart the speakers are, the smarts are with us (collectively?), not up there on the stage.

Note – connectivity was problematic the first day of the event, sometimes to the point of distraction. While Chris warned the event space time and time again about how serious the guests would be they seem to have underestimated demand and usage. There are more than a few guys here with multiple machine, and a couple of videobloggers and podcasters who, while not streaming will be uploading some big-ass files. Slashdot down due to the overload from this IP – too many agg’s hitting the same site at once.)

Dave –
Unconferneces are like blogs, there is no need for an editor to approve our discussion or transmission of ideas – its a conversation between 400 people. The same thing is true of the web as a dev environment. Its the platform with out the platform vendor. In Dave’s opinion, the Internet lets us break free from the big companies as described in his:
Bill Gates VS the Internet post form a couple of years ago. The Intenet is like the Timex watch ads from back in the day (takes a lickin and keeps on tickin).

With connectivity up and down, Dave takes some time to talk about the issues we will be discussing and how MS people are gonna show they ‘get it’ , and how we can all participate in the internet environment – no one gets to decide how we work. Competition prevents domination(there is a little controversy to this later, as some say Dave broke a non-disclosure agreement in a previous blog posting, but it seems BS, and Dave discusses it here.

At this point Dave asks if we can get some discussion from the crowd, and… Chris is doing the DONAHUE! (both Chris, his fiancee, Mom and Dad have done an incredible job running, managing, and keeping the discussion going. They are runnign thru the space taking questions with a wireless mike).

A large bunch of us just killed our wifi connections so Dave could pull an IP address and start the demo. He just demoed the first half of his new OPML editor/outliner. I am in the beta group for this last week and it seems so cool. It aint aesthetically pretty, but it is elegant and simple and more importantly FULL OF POTENTIAL. Oh yeah, and Dave releaseed it under the GPL (yeah Open Source!). Someone just asked if there was a spellchecker, Dave – in a amusing tone told us we can add one. It seems like he is really making this as open and extensible as possible (even though he admits it wont be ready for release for another 3-4 weeks. Dave feels this is the next thing after RSS

Instant outline is like instant messagin
A way of extending outlines, and LISTS (this subject will get bigger with the MS announcement)

Dave points out that this is competition without control (none of the big players created the big tech they take adv of now)

More to come…

Blogging about blogging at a blogging conference

Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

Considering all the crap I have been dealing with on this vacation (personal and biz) GNOMEDEX HAS FINALLY STARTED!

Going forward I will be liveblogging the event so I apologize in advance. I am now cleaning up/editing/adding context to the content so it will make more sense.

In Seattle, getting ready for GNOMEDEX!

Date: June 23, 2005 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

So I spent the day dealing with some strat development for one of our biggest clients (wakin up at 6:30 to do a call with NYC)

Then I went sightseeing… Pike Place Market, Space Needle, EMP and the Museum of SciFi. Fun, long walk and then some power napping before the big event.

And tonight is the kickoff to Gnomedex

UPDATE:

So the opening night registration/mixer was great. Dave Winer shook hands with Adam Curry, There was an evacuation due to a fire upstairs, we went thru a ton of food and drinks and hung out with some really cool people. It was weird to be in a room with so many people whose work I have been following/reading/using/enjoying/recommending for years.

hit www.flickr.com with keyword gnomedex for HUNDREDS of photos from the event.

Dig the LONG TAIL

Date: June 15, 2005 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

While everyone else is bemoaning the Long Tail in buzzword bingo, this is something you HAVE TO READ.

Brilliant. Brilliant. Brilliant. “… shifting from Mass Culture to Massively Parallel Culture.” and “Whether we think of it this way or not, each of us belongs to many different tribes simultaneously, often overlapping (geek culture and Lego), often not (tennis and punk-funk).”

This is the best thing I have read all day

Instant Outlining!

Date: June 13, 2005 Author: Sean Comments: Leave a reply

The thing I am really looking forward to at Gnomedex is the density of demos at the event. Dave Winer’s debut of Instant Outliner. Adam Curry is bringing something new. Dean Hachamovitch is keynoting and presenting on Longhorn.

Check out John Robb’s comments on Dave Winer’s instant outlinerhere

It connects IM, weblog publishing (a weblog is essentially a published outline), RSS (if RSS items are brought into the outline), and outlining in a new way that radically improves team productivity.

I have been searching in vain for some groupware for the boutique ad agency I work for for about a year now. MS Project is too unwieldy and most of the open source apps dont fit the bill. Shrinkwrap? too expensive.

Cant wait to see what Dave & co. is cooking up.