Some crazy thoughts about Web 2.0

As Mike posted about “RSS in Plain English” , it reminded me of some of the conversations we have been having at work as we try to jump-start discussions surrounding our companies general approach to Web 2.0 (which includes a healthy dose of RSS). I spoke at internal round table last week about RSS, Wiki’s and Blogs and their place in the Web Content Management space. Particularly, focusing on how RSS was effecting the Enterprise business world and how our product would be growing to support that need. During my work, I came across a great video (like a great cult movie these days you need to watch it a couple of times to pick up everything) which helps to dispel the myths about Web 2.0.

What I found to be well done in the video was the process of not only describing what Web 2.0 is today but how we got here. How HTML was built as a markup language which was

“…designed to describe the structure of a web document … such elements defined how content would be formatted. In other words, form and content became inseparable in HTML…”

In the early days of pure HTML development, the tags were the power. <b> for something bold, <i> for something italics. We coded because we wanted to designate that something was important and should be looked at differently. We were not thinking about the actual content in the context of the document, we were simply saying “when this is displayed on the Web we want it to look like ‘x’.”

What is remarkable about the current changes on the Web is that they are not simply architectural changes (support for semantic style markup like <address>4222 Clinton Avenue</address>) but it was also the explosion of the user compiled data:

Amazon.com customers rushed with surprising speed and intelligence to write the reviews that made the site useable. Owners of Adobe, Apple and most major software products offer help and advice on the developer’s forum web pages. And in the greatest leverage of the common user, Google turns traffic and link patterns generated by 2 billion searches a month into the organising intelligence for a new economy. [excerpt from “Unto us a machine is born”]

Nobody could have ever imagined how much the consumers of the world would contribute to the web and it’s over all growth. In some articles it is said that a new blog is born every 1/2 second. When I first started blogging at WordPress.com (which was admittedly way after the general populous started) there were roughly 190K blogs. In the short amount of time that I have been active in the blogsphere, that number has grown to an astonishing 900K+.

So as this data grows and the web spins out of control, we must start thinking about the next thing. How many times have you gotten to a great Digg article, only to find that 850 people had already commented on this article. Rendering the comments section of this article completely useless. Who can sort through that many comments and make heads or tails of anything relevant to the discussion. Likewise, how do you weed out the unproductive comments that prove we still have a long way to go as a society? You don’t, that’s how!

One thing I will say that I have spoken about in the past (and is iterated in the article mentioned above) is that the system is growing and the tools that are becoming available to us are opening up our use-able networks. We are currently connected (most of us) with way more people then we were in the past. Additionally, we are capable of maintaining relationships with hundreds of people at at time through many different outlets.

I am not sure that we are “teaching the Machine (a.k.a. the Internet)” but I can say this, when I get involved with projects like Behavioral Targeting I can truly say that we are living in a remarkable time, and I am glad to be a part of it.

Software as a Service

I had some time today to catch up on my “links for you” (links your friends post to their account they believe you would be interested in) at del.icio.us. and I cam across a link to an article a friend of mine had sent to me a week or two ago on the RSS reader. The article entitled: Death of the RSS Reader / Software as services was written in December 2005 (Yes) by Phil Waineright who rights an “Applications on demand” blog for ZDNet (I added his blog to my list because he is dead on here). While I am not sure that he has captured the full value of “Software as services” (which I believe goes way beyond RSS) I think that he has a point.

Software as a service (SaaS)
The idea of software as a service has been around for quite some time. SaaS is well documented on the web and has its own place even at Wikipedia: SaaS. I was involved in a few startups that were early adopters of the idea except we called ourselves Application Service Providers or ASP’s. Back in the day we built applications and “rented” the use of those applications out to companies in return for a monthly fee (the holy of all holies – recurring revenue). These applications were maintained by us. We handled the server and network architecture (we obviously outsourced this), we updated the software and managed the data. The client simply opened a Web browser and worked with their data.

There is however, a big difference in SaaS to the business (b2b) and SaaS to the consumer (b2c). A while back the industry thought that the b2b software industry was going to explode. Services between companies have certainly moved to the web and that continues to increase, but not nearly as much as the b2c side.

Today you can see software as a service almost everywhere. Google and Yahoo compete for the consumer’s attention all of the time with their applications which help you do everything from manage links and video to email and favorite TV shows. There are also many other smaller applications (who are continually swallowed up by larger organizations) that offer niche market applications like Flickr and Dandelife to name a couple.

I think a notable Software as a Service in the consumer space is PeaPod. While you may not think about it as a traditional SaaS, for the consumer it is most definitely a contender. What better services then the ability to virtually attend a supermarket, order some goods and have those goods delivered to your home. On that same level, you could include Netflix, Blockbuster and the like in their as well.

While the RSS Reader online can certainly be considered a service, I am not sure that he has done justice to the explosion in SaaS on the consumer side.

AppExchange 2.0 – the Oracle killer?

“We will destroy Oracle and SAP because they won’t be able to respond to the innovation we are about to unleash”.
Marc Benioff (CEO-Founder SalesForce.com)

Why is a software company that has only been around since the turn of the century able to make statements like this? Maybe because Marc Benioff is a big mouth and a hell of marketer or maybe because he is correct? Why would AppExchange ever have an opportunity to take Oracle out of the picture?

Innovation is finally leading the way
Back when the Internet boom first occured it was fueled by ideas. Innovation was a leading factor in the success of some of the early Internet companies. Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Dell and many others all had innovative ideas. New ways of doing the same thing. Yahoo! produced easy to use tools and search engine that made finding information easy. Amazon.com made purchasing books easier then ever and Dell revolutionized the way we purchased computers. These companies were all successful (and continue to be successful) because they were innovative.

Somewhere along the way a “shakedown” occurred and all of the companies that were truly not innovative crumbled. Granted some companies crumbled for other reasons but most simply because they did not innovate. Look at some of the popular technologies making waves in the world today during this new technology boom: Google, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Zillow.com, SalesForce. Why are they successful? Well it’s simple, they are innovative. Google … do I really need to discuss any of these? They are all flipping the online software world upside down with their innovative features.

With all of this complexity wee need simple tools
In all of the companies I mentioned making waves in the world today, they all have one thing in common (save Zillow.com which can be a bit busy) – they all do what they do and do it well. Is there really any simpler search engine then Google? For those users out there who no nothing about HTML is there any easier way to publish your thoughts and connect with your friends then MySpace? And YouTube – c’mon – dosen’t get any easier.

The Interent is expanding and not only in the amount of computers and sites available but also the number of people who are using it. As the number of users grow so does the diversity of that user. In it’s infancy the web was used primarily by those individuals that have grown up on computers. The classification of “Intuitive Interfaces” had to change.

In the words of Marc Benioff:

“The future of technology is all lower cost and easier usage,”

AppExchange 2.0?
In light of all the changes that have occurred in the recent past as it pertains to on-line software what makes Marc so certain that his innovation will change the world of on-line information storage? Right now we can only wait but in a few weeks we will know what Marc and company are thinking

At the heart of ADN at Dreamforce is technology — the features, tools, and APIs that will inspire developers looking for new ways to innovate. At ADN, salesforce.com will preview the biggest update ever to the AppExchange Web services API, one of the industry’s most popular Web services.

Combining concepts from service-oriented architecture (SOA) and Web 2.0 patterns, this new API will open the door to applications that can combine on-demand with traditional software, and Internet services with each other. In addition, a new set of tools for building directly on top of the AppExchange platform will make it possible to create sophisticated, enterprise-class solutions — capable of meeting the most challenging business requirements — on demand, and without software.

From the “DreamForce 06” web site.

I only wish that I could be there for the announcement.

9/11 – CNN – and the new medium for history

I am writing this from our Nations Capital. I have travelled here today to deliver some training to the National Park Service on our product CommonSpot CMS. Today was a weird day and I was not to keen on travelling (especially flying to D.C). I decided to fly out of Providence instead of Boston (figuring that if anything was going to happen today it would happen out of a major city). This is not what I want to talk about (everything went fine and I am here safely). What I want to talk about is an extension on a previous post I made about the emergence of this new media – Internet Video. I guess it is not really “new”, but it sure is becoming popular.

Sites like ESPN and MSNBC.com have had video on their site for a long time. Way before Google Video, YouTube and the many others (check out http://www.break.com). But over the course of the last 9 months or so, all of the major news carriers have been offering supplemental (and sometimes primary) content in the form of Video. Some sites offer this as a free service while most are offering two flavors – the free version (small, short video’s) and a premium version (in-depth productions with large screen resolutions and full commentary – similar to a regular broad cast). It seemed to me to happen almost overnight and all kind of launched at the peak of Google Videos’ popularity (recently usurped by YouTube’s extraordinary growth). What does this all mean?

Well today I take this conversation a bit further. Since this is the anniversary of 9/11 I will add another perspective to this and talk about the Internet as an archive as general. If you read CNN.com at all you would have noticed that their front page was plastered with links to two video segments (each over an hour long) called “9/11/01 As it Happened”. The videos are actual videos uncut from the morning of 9/11. Amazing footage of what is probably one of the single most defining moments in US History (next to the signing of the Declaration of Independence). We were glued to our seats at work (or at home) as this amazing attack unfolded right before our eyes. And this video spared no details. Even catching one of the planes flying right into the trade center building LIVE.

What you received that day was not only the events as they happened but also a new emerging portrayal of news. CNN was the first to cover the attacks by using a local New York Affiliate. The Affiliate was broad-casted around the world and was essentially put on the spot with little to no information about the event. Over the course of the morning CNN pieced together the events by tapping into many resources including
– Eye witnesses
– Local news crews
– Political and Social Servants

Anything they could get their hands on. Simultaneously, all of the world was taken for this amazing ride as the news casters, torn between their feelings about the events and their own fixation on the delivery of this content as it happened, unravelled a puzzle of terror.

Education as you know it has changed
This topic enlightens my on another subject (which is really what I want to talk about), which is education. As I think about my two son’s future and what they may learn of this event (and others). I can’t help but think about how this new media will provide more insight into these events then ever before. No more “microfiche”, no more “microfilm” – just point click and watch.

Think of a history class 15 years from now – how will it change. Video vs. Reading. Surely there will still be books. Surely some information will have to be discovered the old fashioned way. I am sure this is happening now but imagine a wiley History teacher. Say someone that is currently in the 7th grade and has experienced this first hand having grown up in the Instant Messaging age. What will she do to explain this phenomenal event to her 8th grade history class. Think of all the resources she will have to arm her students with the truth.

Think of all of the points of view she will be able to offer
– Professional Video from news casts
– Personal home videos shot from across town in nearby high rise apartment buildings (search google and you will be amazed)
– Blogs and Wiki’s
– Prepared digital content of the findings: Open-Content projects like “Complete 911 Timeline” – certainly subject-able but contains valid sources.

Combine all of this with some of the raw footage that can easily express the emotions of everyday people as the tragedy was happening.

Here are a few other events “caught on film” that are worth noting (none having quite the rich resources of the 9/11 tragedy):
– Walking on the Moon
– Assassination of Kennedy
– Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia Tragedies
– Waco (watched an excellent Documentary on this on the Documentary Channel – worth visiting).

I find this time in life to be the most exciting time for information convergence. All mediums coming together to allow everyone with a computer ($100 dollar laptops) to explore.

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You Tube, Steve Irwin and things to come…

Everyone is wondering when the video of Steve Irwin’s death (the actual film of him getting stabbed in the chest by a stingray) is going to hit the airwaves. At first I thought to myself “Oh that is going to hit YouTube in a week”. But the more and more I think about this, I have to disagree with myself. I don’t think that this video will _ever_ hit YouTube. Not if YouTube wants to stay popular because the fact of the matter is, watching a famed hero die is not something I want my kids doing. Now I know all about the movements on the Internet to produce a free environment for sharing information. This is not about that.

What it is about though is “Where in the hell did all of those Steve Irwin Video’s come from” Seriously though, I looked at the site today (because I was half curious) and in the last day over 200 videos were posted about Steve Irwin. Most of them are tributes and/or parodies about Steve.  I wonder where the footage comes from?  Do they tivo it and download it to their computers?  Are we seeing the advancements in video sharing as a result of operating systems like Windows Media Server?  Too be honest I don’t have Steve Irwin video footage hanging out on my computer. This is amazing. This guy wrestled alligators. Big alligators. I was actually a bit surprised to hear that it wasn’t an alligator or a wicked poisonous snake that finally got the best of him.

That aside, what I think is truly remarkable is that we are seeing the beginnings of the new medium at work. People armed with their super fast computers, broadband connection, DVD burners and editing software, are now sharing their thoughts and ideas in ways that I could only dream.

Rock on YouTube and please…keep the Steve Irwin death video off the site…please.

Web presence in the new web software age

I have been talking a bit about the new web software age and how interesting it is being a part of this whole revolution. I am often struggling to make sense of this whole transformation that is going on. How Internet web sites (software) are battling for attention from users. I also, often try and separate the “technical” aspect (those individuals who knew what HTML was before Yahoo.com was popular) of this growth from the “human” aspect (those individuals who could differentiate HTML from RSS). I ran across two rather interesting posts today. Each one supporting and de-supporting some of my hypothesis that I (being from the technical side) am in a vacuum.

Digg.com still cannot compete with NY Times
This post has been around for a couple of days and has been reported on by a few people. The post that I like the most (because it has fancy graphs) is Hitwise US: Digg versus New York Times Reality Check from LeeAnn Prescott. In her post she talks about how many people have been talking trash about how popular Digg is and that it has enjoyed a serious 50% growth since February of this year. Since they just turned non-technical.

The share of page impressions for the NY Times was 19 times greater
than for Digg for that week. If I put the NY Times on the same chart as
Digg, Digg’s traffic would look tiny and relatively flat, even though
its share of page impressions has grown substantially in the past
several months, increasing 51% from February to June 2006.

Additionally, she goes on to note the top 20 search terms for users who were sent to digg.com:

1. sidekick3
2. chuck norris jokes
3. limewire pro
4. scary maze
5. mosquito ringtone
6. videora
7. digg.com (YES! Digg.com – clearly they have begun to reach the non-technical!)
…

As of the time of this writing here are the top 5 stories on Digg.com (Not the Technical Category – which is the default category if you visit the site – but the “All” categories).

1. Students used wigs to disguise the wireless gear used to cheat on exam
2. Resdesign From Scratch – first in a series of 50 redesigns
3. eWEEK Labs Bakeoff: Linux Versus .Net Stacks
4. Searching with “find” one of the least understood commands of Linux,
5. $200,000,000,000 isn’t enough. We need more money. Let’s tax the Internet

For me what this means is that there is still a divide between the technical audience and the non-technical audience. So my thoughts are, I am still in a vaccum.

YouTube.com nearly doubles in one month
Then I read about the tremendous growth of YouTube.com. YouTube.com could be classified in the social aspect of the new software that has been popping up. The site is new (founded as a company in February 2005) and allows people to upload their own video. Recently YouTube.com has been signing deals with major networks (NBC for instance) to publish their content. Not quite sure how that will work but it is turning into a numbers game with YouTube.com

YouTube had 12.6 million unique visitors in May (up from 6.6M and so putting it just outside the top 50 properties on the Web), Google Video 7M, and Yahoo! Video 4.2M.

Ok so if that doesn’t put it into perspective then I am not sure what does. YouTube.com went from 2 place (compared to Google and Yahoo! Video’s current numbers) to more than both combined — in one month! Incredible growth. With the Google Adwords on the right, Google just has to sit back, relax and buy YouTube.com at the right moment.

So what this means to me is that there are certain areas of this Social Networking, which is reaching beyond the Technical realm. Real ordinary people are flocking to this site to view video.

CNN.com reports on Rocketboom
Rocketboom is a vlog (videoblog) that has been around since October of 2004. While Rocetboom reports on many topics that are certainly considered non-technical, the fact that the very existence of this site is due to the Internet places it in a semi-technical realm. The fact that it receives over 100K visitors a day means that it is popular. Popular enough for the news about Amanda Congdon leaving Rocketboom, to make the front page of CNN.com.

Interestingly enough, the news about a non-mainstream news service loosing their host making it on the front page of a very mainstream news service proves that we are in some sort of paradox. Some large shift.

I will continue to ponder the change, what it means and how it will effect the technical and non-technical people in my life.

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Flock

Ok like a “Flock of sheep” or a “Flock of seagulls”? Nope, Flock as in the Web browser. I found this new browser by reading TechCrunch. I decided to try it out and I have been using it ever since. Sure it has it’s quirks and I don’t seem to mind some of the “pitfalls” (described below). I also, don’t use all of the features, but you know what? I like it… and here’s why.

1. It’s Firefox.
Yup, the core engine of this baby is Firefox. So, all of the same things I like about Firefox (read my earlier posts) are still here.

2. Best News Reader (for free!).
I was a huge fan of Sage – the extension for Firefox which handled all of my needs for news reading. Then I tried this. I have to say today that this is probably the single reason that I use Flock soo much.

2a. Downloads RSS Automatically
One of the things that I didn’t like about Sage (and I did not realize I didn’t like it until I tried Flock) was that you had to force Flock to retrieve your RSS. It did not do it on a scheduled basis. Flock is constantly reloading your RSS. That means it will notify you when there are new articles by changing the News Reader Icon (which is a part of the normal browser window icons – like Back, Forward, Stop).
2b. Reader is easy to use (once you understand it)
The news reader loads all of the feeds in the left pane (which shows and hides automatically whenever you go to an RSS feed). On the Right side it will show all of the posts pretty neatly.

2c. The look and feel is better
I like the way the news reader looks. Each feed has a little icon next to it (based on the icon located in the RSS or the favicon.ico on the site hosting the RSS feed). The layout of the content in the right page is preceded by a management header that allows you to mark all posts as read. Boy I could go on and on about the reader.

3. It’s cool.
The icons for the browser are a ton better than those of Firefox. It’s ice blue.

4. Integrates directly with Photobucket and/or Flickr
Yup, it has an integrated tool which allows you to upload images directly to your photobucket or flickr account. (I have since found this to not be as useful as the new Picassa – which I will post about soon).

5. Integrates directly with your Blog
Click Ctrl + B and it opens a little word pad window which allows you to post about something while your are reading. I have been using Performancing (which loads nicely in Flock too!) so this tool has little use for me.

6. Integrates the Stop button and the Refresh button
Yeah, never really realized how silly two buttons for Stop and Refresh were. When you start navigating to a site, you would not need to click refresh (at least not frequently – F5 works fine for me). So the refresh button automatically switches to a Stop button. Then when a page loads all the way it switches from a Stop button to a Refresh. No need to hit Stop when a page is loaded already.

It was some of these little things which interested me. Hey someone was thinking about how we use the web.

So what are some of the pitfalls for this product?

1. Doesn’t support folders (or sub-folders) in the bookmarks or Toolbars
I am a big fan of organizing. I have not switched over to this whole “Tagging” thing yet so I am much more efficient loading up a folder with common links. It makes it easier for me to manage my links. I may get better at using Delicious but for right now, I don’t have enough time to tag all of my links.

2. The settings on the News Reader were not intuitive at first and defaulted to a setting I found unuseful
The reader by default would not display anything. That is because by default when you clicked on the left nav to see a feed you had registered, it would immediately mark all the links in the feed as read. When I set the settings to be logical (or at least what I thought to be logical – to display only “New” items) nothing was “New”. They had all been marked as Read when I clicked on the feed so they were now all “Viewed” so, they did not show up.

Annoying at first, but with some help from a friend, we found the setting that “Mark[ed] feeds as viewed when selected in the sidebar”. Now the setting in the main window to only display “New” items was correct. Happy Day!

3. Some of the existing Firefox extensions were not compatible
At first it appeared that there was a complete difference between the two platforms when it came to extensions. Now it appears that there has been somewhat of a convergence and tools have been built to make Firefox Only extensions work in Flock.

So what does this mean (and why am I really using Flock)? For me it shows me how important (and powerful) the browser has become. This tool can now Read RSS, Aid in organizing and post pictures to your favorite image site, Post to your blog and oh yeah by the way…browse the Internet. I know that Firefox can do all of this with extensions but all of this is “Out of the box” with no extensions needed. It shows that there is some movement on the integration of applications with your web browser.

A quick note: Photobucket is now distributing a custom Flock browser which only supports uploading images to the Photobucket site. In addition, there are rumors that Yahoo will be doing the same (only removing Photobucket). Let the games begin.

Why Firefox and why now?

I have been using the Internet for a long time. In fact, it has been almost 15 years (14.7 to be exact). I am sure that there have been others out there that remember the earlier Internet. After all according to this article, the 2400 baud modem become affordable as early as 1987.

Back then though the Internet was not really for public use and the World Web hadn't even been created. I do remember people talking about Bullitein boards and AOL but before 1992 (when I got my start) the web had just gotten started. First it was Mozaic and then came Netscape and finally IE. I have seen all of the browsers and I have ask myself "Why Firefox and Why Now"?

I will take this in two sections:

Why Firefox
What makes Firefox so popular? What is making it so successful? For starters Firefox has been around for a bit longer than most people might think. It was originally launched as beta software project named "Phoenix" in September 2002. They launched the beta for 0.8 in February 2004 with the name Firefox. So lets talk about what makes Firefox so appealing. I can think of a few good reasons:

1. Cross Platform
This browser runs and acts the same on all platforms mainly because of its use of XUL for the Interface. I am not sure how they got their rendering engine to be so cross-platform but with Firefox you did not see all of the crazy HTML/CSS incompatiability problems that you may have experienced with IE. So from the development perspective you didn't have to write your app 3 or 4 ways to work on different platforms.

2. Extensions
Did I say extensions? I really mean "Mini-software apps". I am actually using one now called "Performancing". A great tool for those of you who blog. The number of extensions (and their relatively easy development process) is astounding. Since Firefox used XML and scripting standards for their Intereface API it appeals to broad audiences. Since we use our web browsers so much, it makes sense to add in connections to our email, bookmarks, RSS readers, Blog tools etc… Why leave the browser? I know the Web as the OS is the new mantra, but to me the Browser as the OS means soooo much more.

3. Cleanliness
The application is so light weight (not that it can't chew up memory). It sits in a tiny space on your hard drive and is not integrated with the world. I can not remember the last time I was browsing for files on my local machine and felt the urge to visit a web site so bad that I replaced "c:\temp\foo\" with "http://www.techcrunch.com&quot;. Integrated browsers with my "everything" is not as useful as one might think.

4. Security
When Firefox first came out, it was a lot more secure than IE. There were not as many security holes because it did not have a lot of airtime for hackers. Plus, it was the hackers that got sick of IE and started using Firefox. They were almost championing Firefox because it was more appealing. Zillion dollar software bohemoth vs. Non-Profit foundation for the better of all Internet users. There was no reason to poke holes in the app, it was accepted. Not to say that there aren't any security risks – because there are some doozies. But it is more secure than IE.

5. Updates
Ok, so IE does have updates, but since these updates are so bundled in with the OS, you have to download a million other patches to fix holes in the browser. Firefox has more regular updates and they install automatically (should you choose to).

So why now?
I can not truly say why now. Maybe it had to do with the tremendous security holes opened up via the IE browser in the early 00's. It certainly is a lot more fun to use. But what really makes an application like this work so well.

1. Appealing to the right people
This application was targeted for people who embrace change. This was evident in the Marketing campaign. There were no flashy commercials. There were no full page ads taken out in Technical Publications. It was a quiet movement dessiminated via Blogs and forums posts. "Hey, did you check out Phoenix"? or "I downloaded Firefox last night and it is really cool … there are all of these extensions…". The development community ate it up because it was fun and different.

2. Reliable
It is rare that Firefox crashes. It is very light weight. It is good at doing what it is supposed to do – serve up web pages. If Firefox does crash it is more likely due to the fact that you have installed some beta extension that did not take into consideration how users would react to the tools provided.

Reality
Don't get me wrong, Firefox has it annoyances, but I would take them over IE any day. I can not say that I will never open up an IE browser again, but I can say that my browser of choice is certainly Firefox.

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Virtualization – for hardware/os communication

Apple should change the name of OS X to osX – allOneWord. Seriously though, anyone seen what is going on over there? I mean really this is pure madness. Have you heard of bootcamp? I know that I am always the last man to hear the god damn thing (reference to PulpFiction). Anyhoo I was conducting some training last week with the good folks at Florida Area Real Estate – shout out to the crew! – and Rob Shrewsbury told me about bootcamp.

If you haven't heard, there is this new beta program that Apple is offering to allow you to run Windows and osX at the same time. That is something of a "virtualization" software program from what I gather. Rob had purchased a Mac a year or so ago (its -pre intel) and heard about it. Being that his work pretty much required him to work on a Mac he thought it was a good idea. I am not sure if he decided to try it or not but. To read more about it go over to their web site ( www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/ ).

I was reminded of this software tonight when I visited a customer of ours. Actually brought in by a Partner NI Solutions in Toronto. The company name is "Virtual Iron". They make a product that is also in beta which seems to run on the Linux platform. Specifically RHEL3 and 4. They are going to have a Windows version of the product available in September 2000.

It appears to "run between the Operating System and the Hardware".

Alex Vasilevsky Founder and CTO Virtual Iron Software. I think that this is an interesting technology, especially if you read their "In the news" section. Ton of talk about this type of technology.

RSS to the masses

So this image appeared on Microsoft's home page today. I don't usually frequent the Microsoft site so I am not sure how long it has been there but I found this interesting. I have been talking about the launch of RSS as a great technology and as a technology that has not been delivered to the masses. I am convinced that Microsoft will be the company (unfortunately) that will deliver RSS to the masses. Especially with their latest browser. So I clicked the link and I was brought to a page that lists out some of the popular RSS feeds. Feeds that would probably make sense for someone that runs windows exclusively at home and at work (nothing against the Mac).

– Technet Security Updates

– RSS Feed for Most Recent KBs for Office XP

– RSS Feed for MSDN: Windows Media Center (I have recently bought this OS for home)

Anyways there was also a (prominent) link on this page which discussed what a feed was and how to use it. This is the kind of information that I think the masses needs. Education is the key to any new technology. I am glad to see this type of information posted. Even if it is by Microsoft.

Using Feeds (Microsoft style)

True to form they have this excerpt at the bottom:

Reading and subscribing to feeds using Internet Explorer 7

The newest version of Internet Explorer (version 7 due for release in 2006) will support feeds, including automatic discovery of feeds on Web pages, basic feed reading capabilities, and basic support for saving feeds.

Should be a fun ride when IE 7 is released.