Blogging @ Applied XML Developers Conference 2003 West

July 10, 2003 Comment on this post [1] Posted in Web Services | XML

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It has begun, another iteration of XMLDevCon West. This is my second DevCon, and I have high-signal-to-noise-ratio-hopes.

Right now Dave Winer is doing his talk, which is the first of the day. His slide (that's singular) says "Dave Winer: Harvard Law School" rather than Userland. It's been mostly an Andy Rooney-style talk so far.

Here's a brief synopsis of Dave's Talk...

"...users....users....users don't care about protocols, they just want things to work...I've been developing software for 30+ years...here's how XML-RPC started....here's what I was doing in the Valley in the 80s...You can spot Microsofties even before they go to work for Microsoft....Scoble would talk about Lornhorn in social situations...why should we care about Microsoft's internal logic? <DonBox breaks in>Internal competition can be healthy...</DonBox breaks in> It's artificial, it's an economy...competition within groups at Microsoft isn't a substitude for competition within an economy. I don't think the Gods (BillG, SteveB, JimA) understand technology and I hate that they control the web...Microsoft owns Word and the Browser, one is free, one is not, Microsoft will never let the Browser compete with Word."

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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July 11, 2003 0:51

A couple of other of his comments "The higher purpose is about empowering users; its not about the technology." Another word he said about competition within MS groups: "The gravity within MS and the internal pressures makes it difficult for individuals at MS to see outside." This is true within IT departments inside companies around the world... the developer knows best what the user needs. Developers have to listen to the people who use the product. He also made the comment after his talk that "Grandma does understand interop. She does not have to drive her Toyota on a street that was built only for Toyotas. She can have any type of car and drive it on any type of street." Interoperability.

Jim Blizzard

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