Month: December 2006

Categories
People

On Udell and Microsoft

I was surprised to read of Jon Udell joining Microsoft. I agree with Sam Ruby that Jon has enough street cred to counter the inevitable exclamations of bias in his future writings. At a minimum, we have years of writing before joining MS to be able to determine any differences after he begins at his new job.

To me, this seems to be further evidence of a trend I’ve been seeing, which is a hunkering down of the tech community into ‘solid’ positions–whether to influence or to weather possible rough times ahead is still undetermined. Amazon pulling back on new development, Google closing down the first of its too many betas, the reorg of Yahoo, even the earlier hiring of Ray Ozzie at Microsoft–I wouldn’t say it’s a bubble breaking, but I would say the balloon is being anchored.

I think we’re heading into cautious times. If I were a startup hoping to be bought, I would be worried now.

Regardless, best of luck to Mr. Udell in his new, blue position.

Categories
Diversity

Wistful

Oddly enough Jon Udell’s hiring also left me feeling sad, and a little depressed.

I look back on the ‘announcements’ of new hires and moves between and to companies in the last year, and I can’t remember this same level excitement about a tech woman taking a new position. Heck, I can’t remember a tech woman even being offered such positions.

Totally irrelevant to Jon being hired at Microsoft, but that was my first thought when I heard the news.

Categories
JavaScript Web

Absolute must for web developers

Firebug has released a beta of the first full version, 1.0. The previous version was extremely helpful. This version is beyond helpful. I dare say it goes all the way to, “Wow!”

I don’t use Firebug because I’m a Firefox browser user. I’m a Firefox browser user because of extensions like Firebug.

Categories
History

Why don’t we remember Pearl Harbor

In St. Louis Today, Harry Levins writes:

As a general rule, newspapers stop running anniversary stories after 50 years.

The thinking holds that past 50 years, few readers even remember the event, much less took part in it. Past a half-century, journalists cede the field to historians.

World War II was an exception. Because that war dragged on for so long (45 months) and because it put so many Americans in uniform (16 million, or more than 10 percent of the population), it imprinted itself in the American soul, as only the Civil War had before it.

Both WWII and the Civil War involved the entire nation over a long stretch of time. And although nobody alive in America today remembers Shiloh or Gettysburg, enough Americans remember WWII to nudge newspapers away from the 50-year rule.

Thanks in part to the emotions stirred by Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation” and to the movie “Saving Pvt. Ryan,” newspapers in the 1990s ran 60th-anniversary stories on the big WWII battles.

But that attention to WWII is fading fast, as is the generation that fought the war.

Come next June 6, some elderly reader will call the paper to grouse that his paper makes absolutely no mention of the fact that it’s the 63rd anniversary of the day in 1944 that Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower led the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Chances are that the grumpy reader will be making his complaint to an editor who was born after President Dwight D. Eisenhower left the White House in 1961.

Categories
Legal, Laws, and Regs

Tis the season

I thought that now would be a good time to recommend two legal weblogs associated with consumer law, credit, and bankruptcy:

Consumer Law & Policy Blog

Credit Slips

We focus so much on DRM and copyright in weblogs that we forget that consumer law probably has far more impact on us, and far less public exposure.

Another related weblog is Ross’ Arbitration Blog, which covers the growing proliferation of mandatory arbitration clauses, and lack of accountability in the arbitration process. In particular he points to a LA Times article on arbitration that discusses some of the concerns associated with the increasing use of arbitration for any non-criminal court activity. (Sorry, free registration required for this article.)

A more pungent discussion on the current state of arbitration can be found in the article: Arbitration and the Godless Bloodsuckers, by a former state supreme justice of West Virginia. Richard Neely really lets loose with both barrels. PDF of actual article and be forewarned, it’s a large document.