More of the Cheap Revolution

Seems that Forbes magazine in a strong proponent of the Cheap Revolution...


Technorati Tags: Cheap Revolution, Linux, Desktop

If you IM me do I not read?

I believe the common perception of IMing is the adolescent, late at night in the privacy of TheirSpace or AIM typing short cryptic message blasts at one another. LOL, How R U?

I wish to explore another facet of Instant Messaging. The very controlled and mature deliberate conversation. IMing offers a unique facility for careful and specific communication. It can support a multi-thread model for simultaneous conversations. It can offer a retrospective or historical perspective on conversations. Its speed and the fact that it is text based provides a concise means of communicating complex thoughts in a timely fashion with some stability of the communication channel.

I have experienced conversations using IM that are both mature in nature and deliberate in context. IM is ideally suited for two or more people to engage in a near-real time conversation. Such a conversation can be deliberate in nature, by this I mean it can be concerning issues beyond anecdotal chat. Because of the "I-talk-then-you-talk" nature of IMing there is a heightened sense of turn taking courtesy. This turn taking can be refined into a multi-threaded model which I will discuss later.

Because IMing is text based it imposes certain constraints on the communicators. Clearly and concisely conveying meaning in a written format requires careful and specific word choices. Due to the "expense" of writing out each communique the sender has a tendency to be much more careful than during a typical verbal based communication session. IM sentences and phrases are much more succinct and on topic. It is inherent in this form of communication that corrections or clarifications, while employed, are also expensive and avoided at most cost. Another factor that contributes to this careful and specific communication is the "on the Internet no one can tell you are a dog" phenomenon. Careful tonal and inferential corrections must be made linguistically to prevent either mis-spoken emotion/intent or to indicate emotional/intentional content.

Because most IM programs offer Historical logging it is possible to record and then play back conversations. This provides an opportunity to review and clarify messages that were not fully developed or were misleading. Such a historical perspective also offers the reader a sense of the evolution of the topic material as well as the development of the speakers.

Once two or more individuals become comfortable with the IM medium then it is possible to change to a multi-thread model of communication. Due to the inevitable time lag (Internet transmission time as well as the ability of an individual to type) gaps in the "conversation" develop. By initiating a second or third communication line it is possible for the participants to hold two separate conversations at the same time using the same channel. It is worthy of note that this second or third "conversation" may or may not be contextually linked to the primary communication line.

IMing is a recorded technology, even if logging is not enabled. I record my message then I send it, you receive it then you play it back. This resembles the letter writing model. Because of the speed of transmission "letters" written in IM are shorter, more concise. The combination of the written message and the time lag offers a slower paced communication model. This allows the reader the opportunity to evaluate the incoming message leisurely. Responses can then be thoughtfully composed and sent. The rhythm of the conversation is preserved but is significantly faster than a snail-mail conversation. Conversely participants do not fall into the trap of having to respond immediately in a way that a telephone type or face-to-face conversation fosters.

Instant Messaging offers a unique communication experience in our cyber enhanced world. In the seeming light speed send-and-receive world of the Internet IM offers us the opportunity to actually slow down to an optimum human speed and engage in the very fulfilling exchange of ideas and information. So slow down ... If you IM me do I not read?



Technorati Tags: IM, communication, conversation

What a show!

And the price... the price says it all.

Please let me be...

...a New Barbarian!

"We're about to see a huge tectonic shift, more dramatic than anything in the past. This is the next boom, the next big storm. Things are going to get really wild."

They already are. Coleman is one of dozens of new barbarians plotting the Cheap Revolution, the wholesale shift by corporate customers and techmakers to cheap chips and open-source (often free) software such as Linux. They are embracing simplicity, unlocking prodigious new power and cutting tech costs by up to 90%, threatening the Silicon Valley plutocracy: the proprietary gear, "closed" software, redundant backup systems and fat profit margins of incumbents like Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, EMC and other blue-chip nameplates.

The Cheap Revolution will not be televised!!! The Cheap Revolution will be LIVE!!!

Be prepared, this is a turning point of huge import. This is the formalization of what many of us have been engaged in quietly, in back-office spaces, server rooms across this great internet-work land of ours. Now we get to take it to the digital super-highways.

People get ready! The Barbarians are coming!!!

Lobby4Linux

This is a long post but it tells a very real story about Linux.

Seems the major stumbling block to the adoption of Linux is that it is not as predictable as its major competitors. (Reads: Uninitiated users cannot find what they are looking for in the places they expect to find them.)

Now this is a given…most people will forgive one small inconsistancy in an operating system, in fact, they will forgive quite a few. BUT…if you have a new user who approaches the change-over to Linux with any measure of trepidation or a pre-existing bias, “little” things soon accumulate into an intangable jumble of negatives. Maybe the user cannot immediately tell you the number of specific negatives it took to back her away from Linux. That does not make her decision any less valid, not in her mind. All she knows is that with some measure of regularity and expectation, these little things piled up until her perception tilted permanently into the negative column. And once is all it takes.

Many of us know the person next door who had a bad experience with DOS and has maintained the Luddite view ever since. This is a computing thing not just a Linux thing. But it affects the way the next user might see Linux.

Scoble on Google

Robert Scoble has gone to the mountain and he has looked into the face of Google. In addition to acknowledging those things that G is already famous for 'the Scoblizer' touched on something that is at the heart of the matter.

One other small thing I noticed? A lot more blog listening behavior. Carl Sjogreen, who runs the Google Calendar team, told me that the first thing he does every morning is do this search on Google’s Blogsearch service: “Google Calendar.” He says he answers everyone’s questions, even if you’re a kid in another country with only four readers.

This is an example of the discipline that Google brings to the fray. Paying attention to the smallest parts of an extremely large picture. Expensive but worth every user who feels that they are being served, personally.

Bing. Small things. They are gonna prove to be dramatically important over time.

Thanks Robert

The Great Seal...

...is great fun!

A List

In light of Hugh's revelations I can only say that being a member of the "Z" list makes life very e-Z. I am not burdened with the responsibility of determining anything within the blogosphere social structure. Ahhhhh...