Roland Tanglao's Weblog

As long as Microsoft doesn't neuter flickr (I don't use any other Yahoo or Microsoft services) I am fine with them buying Yahoo! Not that Microsoft cares what I think :-) !

Neutering to me would include:

1. forcing us to use the Microsoft Live ID instead of my Yahoo ID
2. converting flickr to .NET or to using some other non open source system other than LAMP

But in the long run, Microsoft and Yahoo would be better off if they "creatively self destructed" into the following units:

1. Social Media Co - Yahoo Mail + Hotmail + flickr + delicious + MSN, etc
2. Windows Co - Windows XP, Vista and Mobile
3. Office Co - Word et al
4. Xbox Co - gaming
5. etc

But the odds of any of this kind of creative destruction are practically nil.

I might use my ancient version of Mac Microsoft Office to communicate with people who still refuse :-) to use blogs, wikis and web apps such as Google Docs but I, like Stowe, won't be storing anything in a Microsoft cloud.

FROM /Message: Nicholas Carr On Ozzie's Pipedream:

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The likelihood is that Microsoft will be/is being blindsided by a wave of tiny startups that won't be building anything on the Microsoft cloud. Microsoft may think they will dominate the cloud based on the attractiveness of their own software sitting there.

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Inspired by Jonathan of atmasphere, I decided to try Viddler for my video of GK VanPatter of NextD at the Microsoft Expression Launch in Canvas in Gastown last Thursday. Cool features: you can tag and comment and video comment on both the entire video and anywhere in the timeline. Question: Can you get RSS feeds of all that?

Like Boris, I internally re-coiled at GK's mention of Design "3.0" and "2.0" but whatever you call it, the idea of solving the big problems of society and not just designing yet another product is an idea whose time has come. I gently challenged GK afterwards to contribute back to Canada (he's a Canadian based in New York) and he challenged us by asking does Bryght have a designer? I think that integrated multi-disciplinary teams helping solve big societal problems as well as designing products are the key challenges of the 21st century and open source is a large part of that.

What about Silverlight and Expression, the actual focus of the event? Ho Hum. I used to love iView Media Pro (and still have 10,000 photos and videos in a an iView Media catalogue) but compared to Lightroom and Aperture (and yes I know they are apples and oranges since Expression Media, the successor to iView Media Pro since the Microsoft acquisition is a true digital asset management program and LR and Aperture only do photos) the interface in Expression Media seems old fashioned and much hasn't changed. Until Macs and Linux are first class development and deployment platforms for Silverlight, I can't take the Expression tools seriously. As for Web and the other programs in the Expression Suites they are not my thing! Others like Morten have a better perspective. However it's something to watch and Microsoft and others are working on full Mac and Linux support so wait and see.

Herewith the 15 minute 15 second video (original 300 MB MPEG-4 video) complete with my inline tags and comments for your viewing pleasure :-) (also check out Warren Frey's Expression launch video)!

UPDATE: Here's Robert's post. Like Darren, I am grateful Robert spoke at the first Northern Voice (we'd still love to have you up here anytime for Iranian food and for Northern Voice 2007!). 

If this is true, it's a big loss for M*crosoft. Good luck at the new gig Robert! Can't wait for Robert's post on this.

From Microsoft's top blogger Robert Scoble is leaving....

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Andy Plesser from Plesser Holland and the videoblog Beet.tv just called and told me Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft and will join Podtech.net, the podcasting network. He will be moving from Seattle to Silicon Valley.

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I know I've drunk too much Nokia and Apple Kool-Aid but I thought Nokia was still the market leader in the mobile space and not Microsoft so I kind of thought ComVu would support Nokia Series 60 phones like my 7610 but I was wrong! Oh well, and I also grow weary of companies that claim to serve bloggers and videobloggers but don't actually have a blog themselves. It's not as if it's 1999 and blogging is a novelty. Next!

From ComVu - Welcome to Mobile Webcasting.:

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ComVu has created the world's first live video broadcast solution from a mobile device to a global audience. With the push of a button on a camera phone bloggers, citizen reporters, family members, friends and corporate professionals can broadcast live events to their communities - simply and inexpensively.

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