Out of the Woodwork

Bribery 2.0

A lot of people are talking about Microsoft's recent giveaway of fancy new laptops (preloaded with Windows Vista) to influential bloggers. Some are calling it a terrible breach of ethics by both Microsoft and any accepting bloggers. I don't agree. Instead, I think Robert Scoble's take is right on. In short, he says that Microsoft is smart to try to get bloggers talking about its product, and that bloggers can ethically choose to accept such an offer so long as they disclose it in their writing. Sounds right to me.

That does not mean, however, that Microsoft couldn't do a better job of executing on its intentions. For a model, I would recommend Sun's "Try and Buy" program. (Yes, Sun is my employer and that makes me biased--but it doesn't necessarily make me wrong.) This program allows anyone to receive a variety of Sun hardware products for a free 60-day evaluation. Sun even pays the shipping costs in both directions.

Now obviously these are different programs. But at their core, I think both are forms of loss leaders intended to help products gain increased exposure (and, the companies hope, subsequent increased sales). Where I think Sun gains the high ground is with its true grass-roots approach. Participants don't have to be on any special prescreened list. Some will turn out to be IT pros with big budgets, some will turn out to be bloggers with large audiences, and some will turn out to be friendless and living in their mom's basement.

That's okay. I would argue that it's better to be too broad with special treatment than to narrow; better to give everyone access and rely on probability to catch the movers and shakers than to try to identify them up front. I'm not sure what to call it. Maybe it's the difference between a shotgun and a sniper rifle. Maybe it's the difference between top-down and bottom-up thinking. Or maybe it's just better use of new media concepts in product marketing.

Whatever it's called, I think Sun's approach has more "get it" factor than Microsoft's. Like open source ideas are doing for software and Web 2.0 ideas are doing for content, this kind of modern marketing should be about enabling a bubble-up meritocracy. No one can guarantee ahead of time who the key influencers will be for a particular product. So the best thing a vendor can do is to improve access for everyone and then let the market of ideas do the rest.

Again, I'm not suggesting that Microsoft (or anyone else) is wrong to provide special access for targeted influencers. I just think it's better to start by providing open access for all and treating targeted add-ons as an afterthought than to do things the other way around.

Tags: marketing microsoft sun try-and-buy

Posted at 01:39AM Dec 31, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Potpourri  |  Comments[0]

2008 Presidential Candidates Trivia

Don't worry, I'm not going to deluge you with any political opinions--just a few tidbits of trivia about the top contenders for the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Did you know that:

1. Hillary Clinton was once president of the College Republicans organization at Wellesley College.
2. If elected, Rudy Giuliani would be the first "true" only child in history to reach the U.S. Presidency. (Note: there have been three previous presidents who only had half siblings.)
3. Barack Obama is a Grammy Award-Winning Artist.
4. Senator McCain's father and grandfather were both U.S. Navy Admirals and make up the only father-son pair to have reached such rank in U.S. history.

Interesting stuff, isn't it? I'm sure it just scratches the surface, though. So please feel free to chime in with trivia I've missed about these or other candidates.

Tags: candidates politics trivia

Posted at 01:39PM Dec 30, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Potpourri  |  Comments[2]

Three Men and a Baby ... and a Vulcan?

Isn't the Wikipedia amazing? It always ends up answering my initial question, plus one or two things I wouldn't have even known to ask.

Into the latter column goes my newfound knowledge that Leonard Nimoy directed Three Men and a Baby. I may be guilty of some typecasting, but this strikes me as downright bizarre.

And as a bonus, the Wikipedia article even points out the last word on the movie's "ghost child" urban legend.

Tags: movies

Posted at 11:48AM Dec 29, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Potpourri  |  Comments[0]

Christmas Kitsch

I somehow missed it when major media outlets including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today started covering the story of Alek Komarnitsky's Christmas lights in 2004. I did, however, become aware of the story recently due to a follow-up story on Slashdot.

Why does anyone care about Mr. Komarnitsky and his Christmas lights? Read his own account for the full story. In short, he got international media exposure in 2004 for his home's Christmas lights web site. The site allowed visitors to turn the lights on or off and see the results live on a webcam--or so everyone thought. Soon he received even more exposure when it was revealed that the site was a hoax, using a collection of static images to show people the expected lighting changes (which were not actually happening at the house). And now he is gaining a third round of exposure with a revamped setup which has since 2005 provided genuine working versions of the web-based controls (as verified by the Rocky Mountain News).

So what could I possibly have to add to this established story? A little first-person perspective, for one thing. Mr. Komarnitsky, his lights, and I all happen to reside just northwest of Denver. So the other night my wife and I went on a field trip to do a little verification of our own. And with the help of some relatives, we got this screenshot of Peggy sneaking up to join the famous decorations on Mr. Komarnitsky's webcam:

(She's the dark splotch between Homer and Elmo.)

So assuming that Alek has not assembled a prescient set of new static images, we'll join the folks at the Rocky Mountain News in validating the current incarnation of Komarnitsky's Christmas Lights Webcam as Genuine Kitsch™.

Tags: christmas colorado komarnitsky lights webcam

Posted at 03:01PM Dec 28, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Kitsch 2.0  |  Comments[1]

Seagate CEO Renounces His Porn Aiding Ways

Anil Dash has gotten people talking with his post on the fallout from a Fortune interview of Seagate CEO Bill Watkins. See Anil's post for the whole story, but in short the clamor is over the interview's headline ("Seagate CEO: I help people 'watch porn'") and prominent use of this quote: "Let's face it, we're not changing the world. We're building a product that helps people buy more crap - and watch porn."

Some have reacted by calling Mr. Watkins a plain-speaking hero. Other camps are split between criticizing him, the offended Seagate employees (to whom Watkins has now apologized), and the publishers of the interview for their respective parts in the situation. Of these, I find blaming the publishers most interesting. John Furrier, who was present at the interview, provides a prominent example as he tries to "set the record straight" in his own blog. He says that the Fortune article blew the CEO's words out of proportion and failed to translate his informal language into its real underlying meaning. Spelling out this idea of a missing translation, Furrier writes: "His comment was part of a bigger conversation - let me translate for people not aware of the slang - 'crap = stuff' and 'porn = early adopter rich multi media'." As a result, he says, "Fortune owes Bill Watkins big time for slamming him."

So did Fortune blow these words out of proportion? Probably. If so, was it done entirely for the purpose of attracting readers' attention? Absolutely. Do they owe Bill Watkins "big time" as a result? No. He said something interesting to grab the attention of his audience and they in turn used it to grab the attention of theirs. What's wrong with accentuating whatever piece of a story will draw readers to a headline? I'll certainly admit that the opportunity to get "Seagate CEO" and "Porn" together in a title is giving me some incentive to comment here. Does that mean that I, too, will owe Mr. Watkins? No. It means that I strive to maximize the audience for my writing efforts. Why shouldn't the "big boys" like Fortune be able to do the same?

Speaking of the big fish in the journalism pond, I think there is an interesting new media twist on the issues raised in Anil's post. He suggests that this whole episode shows how the natural dynamic between public figures and the media leads to the suppression of any genuine personality in "on the record" settings. But if blogging turns more and more of us into some new sort of combined media and public personae (albeit in "little fish" forms), do we all face this inevitable blandening? My own employer, Sun Microsystems, has 3,000 bloggers and counting. Does that mean it's time for me to start specifying when I'm going "off the record" in staff meetings? Or to note when watercooler talk is about porn as in "porn" versus porn as in "early adopter of rich multi media"?

Hope not. The latter could burn up half my day.

Tags: seagate

Posted at 08:02PM Dec 23, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Potpourri  |  Comments[0]

Explaining REST to Your Grandmother

Ryan Tomayko has written a good post on explaining REST to a nontechnical audience. Unfortunately for Ryan, the whole "how I explained it to my wife" angle left him open to some complaints of sexism. His response (that he was using his wife in reference to an average layperson, not an average female) seems reasonable enough. Still, the episode can serve as an important reminder to us all. If you're going to talk about explaining technology to the family luddite, stick with your grandmother. People are more willing to attribute her inexperience to a generation gap rather than to some sexist prejudice on your part.

Tags: rest restful

Posted at 10:44AM Dec 22, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Web 2.0  |  Comments[0]

Network World Executive Editor Notices Our Solaris Registrations Map

It looks like our Solaris Registrations Map has gotten its first bit of attention from the "mainstream" IT press.

Tags: google maps pinkdots solaris

Posted at 11:08AM Dec 21, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Maps  |  Comments[1]

The Story Behind The Solaris Registrations Map

I'm one of the people who created the Solaris Registrations Map which has caught Jonathan's eye. Developing the map has been a lot of fun, and I thought I'd share some highlights here.

First off, credit where credit is due... The original idea for the map came from Steve Wilson, Vice President of the "SysNet" group at Sun. Among other things, this group runs the Sun Update Connection and the related Solaris registration service from which the map's data comes. Steve had only been on the job a few days when at small group outing he thought aloud: wouldn't it be cool if we made a Google Maps mashup of all of these registrations we're getting? As another of the map's developers would later say, to some of us Steve's question was the equivalent of chumming the water for sharks. We knew a great idea when we heard one, and we just had to make it happen.

So over the next few days and weeks, we started playing with visualizing our registration data using the Google Maps API. A few challenges quickly became apparent. Chief among these were performance and privacy concerns.

On the performance front, we quickly realized that the JavaScript-based markers often used for such mashups just would not work for a large data set such as this one (80,000 registrations and counting). So for our high-level views, we use the Java Image I/O API to create our own matrix of tile images, and then use Google Maps API calls to have those overlaid atop the normal map tiles. For example, where a fully zoomed-out view of the earth would cripple one's browser with the work of placing 80,000 individual "balloons" on a map using JavaScript-based markers, the custom tile approach means the browser just has to retrieve and position at most a handful images. Much faster and kinder to your browser.

Next, the privacy concerns... We had originally been assuming this map would only be available to a restricted audience on Sun's internal network. But soon after we started showing off initial versions, certain people were asking why we couldn't expose it on the Internet. Again, we knew a great idea when we heard one and had to make it happen. After all, Sun has jumped into the spirit of transparency and the Participation Age like no other. Making our map public could be one more step in that path, but it had to be done with care: we absolutely could not violate the privacy expectations of our users. As cool as some people might think it would be to find a dot on their exact house, others would understandably be quite upset.

And so, after consulting with Sun's privacy specialists we settled on an approach of locating registrations by nothing more specific than a zip or postal code. In other words, your dot won't show up directly on your house (unless, perhaps, you happen to live at a central post office). Instead, information from you and any of your Solaris-using nieghbors will be aggregated together and put into one marker at the center of your postal code area. As our team's Director, Eric Peterson, put it: even "Ted Nugent would be comfortable knowing that the T1000/Nevada registered to his 'Tedquarters' in Jackson, MI is untracable beyond 49202."

I think there are some interesting details deeper down in our technical approach, but I'll cover those in a future post. In the meantime, it looks like Steve has posted his own account of the map's story.

Tags: google maps mashups pinkdots registrations solaris visualization

Posted at 10:36AM Dec 20, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Maps  |  Comments[4]

Ronald MacDonald on a Llama (and Other Things You Don't See Every Day)

If you happen to have read some of my previous posts, you've probably noticed that I'm intrigued by Internet phenomena. As the Wikipedia article explains, "An Internet phenomenon (sometimes called an Internet meme) occurs when something relatively or completely unknown becomes hugely popular, often quite suddenly, through the mass propagation of media content made feasible by the Internet."

"Numa Numa" videos are one example. If you're at all familiar with this phenomenon, you've probably seen the Gary Brolsma webcam video which started the craze. If you're a YouTube addict (or a preteen girl in eastern Europe), you'll have seen the "real" video from Romanian boy band O-Zone. And if you're really hardcore, you may have even seen the Lego equivalents of Gary and the boys.

But have you seen the Japanese "Maiyahi" video which Gary credits with introducing him to the song? It's my personal favorite, though I probably don't understand it in the least. Actually, scratch that--I'd say it's my personal favorite because I don't understand it in the least.

You see, I like a good can't-we-all-just-understand-each-other-and-sing-Kumbaya moment as much as the next guy. But at the same time, let's not abandon the joys of a little harmless laughing at that which we do not understand. And what better for an American like myself to misunderstand than Japanese animation set to some Romanian pop?

So let's take a look at just how little of this Maiyahi video (or "JapaNuma") I can follow...

Scene 1
	As we begin our story, Pink Kitty is considering a new life wandering the earth in a cardboard box.
	This possibility upsets longtime companion Skinny Kitty, who cannot help but notice that the box has room for only one.
	Undeterred, Pink Kitty hops away.
Scene 2
	Not wishing to drown in his troubles alone, Skinny Kitty calls his pals,
	...Stocky Kitty and Yellow Kitty, who rush right over.
Scene 3
	Good times quickly ensue
	...with much dancing
	...some of which defies gravity.
Scene 4
	Eventually, Yellow Kitty becomes caught up in the moment and decides to go hunting
	...monkey hunting
	...with tragic results.
Scene 5
	Skinny Kitty is taken aback by this development
	...as is Yellow Kitty himself, who is quite sickened when he regains his senses and realizes what has happened.
Scene 6
	Fortunately, Ronand MacDonald then arrives
	...riding a llama
	...and dragging a mutilated teddy bear.
Scene 7
	After Ronald has made Yellow Kitty feel better, the fellas decide to go cruising for chicks
	...while being broadcast live in a reality television show which a solitary child happens to be watching.
Scene 8
	The child is startled by the invasion of a man with a threatening nose.
	Fortunately, a second man (with a rather violent painting for a head) arrives and subdues the initial invader
	...only to then succumb to cruel intentions of his own, knocking the child unconscious and eating all of the red meat in the house.
Scene 9
	Still, that child is far luckier than a certain tanner counterpart who is at the same moment perishing in a horrific train wreck.
Scene 10
	Of course, the fellas know none of this and have decided to cap off their night with a drink
	...or two
	...or three
	...pausing only for a quick English lesson
	...before culminating with a joyous kick line.

Now tell me... How could actual understanding possibly be better than this?

Tags: kitsch2.0 numa

Posted at 08:44AM Dec 18, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Kitsch 2.0  |  Comments[0]

Just say three-dot-NO

Ever love something but hate its name? You know, kind of the way you feel about your Aunt Mertalina. (Just kidding, Auntie--you know I love you!) That's how many people feel about Web 2.0: great ideas and fun to use, but stuck with one horribly hype-driven name.

I'm actually not in that camp (at least not any more). I'm willing to accept the idea that Web 2.0 has emerged as an example of useful jargon. It's been thrown around enough that most people who care know what it means. So we're stuck with it and there is no going back. I've accepted this and must recommend that you do the same.

Still, there is an undeniable dark side to the name. For one, any old fool now thinks he's brilliant if he slaps an integer-dot-oh name on some otherwise bad idea. Not good, but it can probably be survived. (For the nerds out there, at least we're only creating bad new terminology at a O(n) rate.)

But where things get really bad is the incrementing of the version number itself. So we'll not only be stuck with Web 2.0, but also the inevitable Web 3.0, Web 4.0, Web N+1 (aka Web I'm-Incrementing-Faster-Than-You-dot-oh), etc. And as we already noted, the arbitrary versioning craze isn't easily restricted to the "Web" term. That means we're bound to get similar version sprawl on all those other bad ideas mentioned earlier. Now we've got a problem (nerd update: generating bad terminology at a O(n^2) rate). Yikes.

I see only one solution: the madness must stop here. There is a Web 2.0 (as we said, there is no putting that genie back in the bottle). But there is no Web 3.0, nor will there ever be one. Likewise, there never will be a Web 4.0 (much as I may appreciate a good rant). These terms are dead on arrival--no, make that dead before arrival. And it looks like I'm not the only one to think so. Sometimes there really is wisdom in the crowd.

Yes, there will of course be something fundamentally new and different after Web 2.0. But it should not be called Web 3.0. Call it by its real name, the Semantic Web (if that does end up achieving widespread adoption). Or if it's something else entirely, call it something else entirely. Don't propogate the unnecessary rise of bad terminology.

No one wants to hear your brilliant ideas for Web 3.0, 4.0, or 99.0 (and before you try, don't even think about some kind of stealth versioning with a Web 2.0 Service Pack 1 or Web 2.0 Enterprise Edition). The versioning madness must stop. And it must stop at 2.0.

Tags: buzzwords jargon sprawl terminology web2.0

Posted at 10:05AM Dec 15, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Web 2.0  |  Comments[0]

Jonathan Hits Madoogle Status?

Some people say you've really made it when you only need one name--like Madonna. Interesting theory. Some people say that top placement in search results is quickly becoming the most valuable real estate in the world. Interesting fact.

What happens if we combine these ideas? I think we get an updated version of the One Name Phenomenon: you've really made it when you're atop the results for a Googling of just your first name. And so I hereby acknowledge that Sun's own media star of a CEO has joined the exclusive "Madoogle" club.

Tags: ceo google madonna search sun

Posted at 05:48PM Dec 14, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Kitsch 2.0  |  Comments[0]

A Jerry Maguire Moment

No, you don't complete me. You don't even need to show me the money--at least not in the way you think.

My Jerry Maguire moment was all about making a spectacle of myself, screaming into a phone while others were in earshot. In Jerry's case, Rod Tidwell was making him scream the now-immortal line, "Show me the money!" and Jerry's whole office was wondering what had possessed him. In my case, it was the soon-to-be-immortal line, "JAVAAAAAAA!" and only my wife was around to wonder what had possessed me.

You see, the folks behind Elf Yourself created a pretty slick system where you phone-in the monologue for your elf. So for my creation of Sun's Chief Elvish Officer (or should we call him Javanathan?), I really was on the phone in our basement screaming and yelling like a madman. And my wife really was wondering how to get me some professional help.

Tags: ceo movies sun

Posted at 09:59AM Dec 14, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Kitsch 2.0  |  Comments[0]

A Special Message From Sun's CEO

Here at Sun, one way our CEO stands out against his counterparts is by blogging. Every week, thousands of people all over the world read his latest thoughts in his own words--no handlers, no filters, and certainly no ghost writers.

That means it's a rather unusual honor when someone else is chosen as an intermediary for one of his key messages. Today I have just such an honor, passing along some thoughts about Sun's recent moves to open source Java. So without further ado: a very special message from the CEO.

Note: modern Flash Player required, and you may need to retry the link a time or two--the service provider sometimes has trouble handling the volume surrounding such an important topic.

Tags: ceo java opensource sun

Posted at 02:00PM Dec 13, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Kitsch 2.0  |  Comments[1]

Kitsch 2.0

I've noticed that Sun's bloggers are exhibiting a disturbing lack of respect for our elders. We didn't invent the Internet, blogs, or streaming media. And we certainly have not taken these technologies to their highest use. It's high time that we paid proper tribute to these great achievements.

For example, a few quick searches of blogs.sun.com reveals:

• Only one acknowledgement of Star Wars Kid's brilliant use of The Force?
• Only two mentions of the ubiquitous NUMA NUMA?
  (Okay, add another two if we include Gary Brolsma references.)
• And not even a whisper about the granddaddy of them all, Dancing Baby?

In our untold thousands of postings, only this handful of references to such brilliant works of art? That's simply unacceptable, and could well get us into hot water with the authorities.

Of course, the search results noted above will quickly become outdated as Sun bloggers see the wisdom of my message and change their ways. No matter--that's the price you pay if you're late in reading this. As I have always said (beginning with an old and classic post): come hard to the Woodwork or don't come at all!

I'll be doing my part to bring some soul to Sun's blogs. Who's with me?

Tags: kitsch2.0 web2.0

Posted at 10:56AM Dec 12, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Kitsch 2.0  |  Comments[0]

Et tu, Weird Al?

White & Nerdy--the song Weird Al was born to sing. He's got the look... He's got those beautiful references to Wikipedia, JavaScript, and Klingon... He even has the Schrödinger equation in his video.

But wait! A closer look at that Wikipedia page leaves Yankovic's nerd-cred in shambles. Mistakenly using Planck's constant instead of Dirac's constant?!?! Say it ain't so, Al.

I'm not sure I want to go on living in a world where we can't believe in a man's own self-proclaimed nerdiness. What's next, Al? How can we trust that you're really whiter than sour cream? Were you even on the chess team? I don't know what to believe anymore... But at least I do know who to believe. Thank you, nameless Wikipedia contributor at 65.94.138.69. Anyone able to uncover this atrocity deserves the crown of the true White and Nerdy.

Tags: parody songs videos youtube

Posted at 10:22AM Dec 07, 2006 by Jamey Wood in Potpourri  |  Comments[0]