Andy McIlwain › Comments

"I disagree. The Digg v4 debacle goes to show that you can't shift the entire concept of an online community without facing strong resistance from your userbase. Honestly, they should've learned their lesson from previous Digg "revolts" (Sony, anyone?). Facebook learned from the failures of MySpace and inherited a good chunk of that site's community.Honestly, I think Reddit ended up doing the same with Digg's community. Monetization is a bitch, but they seem to be gradually improving on that over time." - Andy McIlwain

"Stumble showcases "one thing". Users get their kicks from that "one thing", and then they continue stumbling. Only in rare cases do users stick around and mingle with the rest of the site. It's like free samples at the grocery store. The customers don't care about the product, they care about the little snack they get for free. Then they move on to the next one." - Andy McIlwain

"Stumble showcases "one thing". Users get their kicks from that "one thing", and then they continue stumbling. Only in rare cases do users stick around and mingle with the rest of the site. It's like free samples at the grocery store. The customers don't care about the product, they care about the little snack they get for free. Then they move on to the next one." - Andy McIlwain

"Thanks for the comment, Harry. Some books stand the test of time and never go out of style. Selling the Invisible and The Invisible Touch are two such books. (Purple Cow and Permission Marketing from Seth Godin also come to mind.) I consider all four of the above to be must-reads for anyone like myself - we're just starting into the world of business out of school." - Andy McIlwain

"Thanks for the comment, Harry. Some books stand the test of time and never go out of style. Selling the Invisible and The Invisible Touch are two such books. (Purple Cow and Permission Marketing from Seth Godin also come to mind.) I consider all four of the above to be must-reads for anyone like myself - we're just starting into the world of business out of school." - Andy McIlwain

"It sounds like StatusNet is going up against the likes of SocialText, which will be interesting. The biggest concern I have with SocialText is that it can be overkill... perhaps this is an opportunity for StatusNet to take advantage of, as a more simplistic self-hosted option?" - Andy McIlwain

"It sounds like StatusNet is going up against the likes of SocialText, which will be interesting. The biggest concern I have with SocialText is that it can be overkill... perhaps this is an opportunity for StatusNet to take advantage of, as a more simplistic self-hosted option?" - Andy McIlwain

"I'd assume that, if there's a need for parking, traffic in the area is a given. It's unlikely that a flood of cars will start pouring into residential neighbourhoods because everyone wants to park in the Jones's driveway." - Andy McIlwain

"I'd assume that, if there's a need for parking, traffic in the area is a given. It's unlikely that a flood of cars will start pouring into residential neighbourhoods just because everyone wants to park in the Jones's driveway." - Andy McIlwain

"Facebook already has a status update platform that serves the same function as Twitter. Google, on the other hand, hasn't done a very good job of entering the social networking space. Between the two, I think it's more probable that Google would be the buyer, not Facebook." - Andy McIlwain

"Facebook already has a status update platform that serves the same function as Twitter. Google, on the other hand, hasn't done a very good job of entering the social networking space. Between the two, I think it's more probable that Google would be the buyer, not Facebook." - Andy McIlwain

"Embedded wall of text, so you can scroll while you scroll." - Andy McIlwain

"Embedded wall of text, so you can scroll while you scroll." - Andy McIlwain

"Functionality should be a given. If you're putting a solution in front of me, I expect it to work. Same rule applies for every product/service presented by every vendor/provider. Never underestimate the power of cool. Even in enterprise, you're still appealing to users. < /twocents >" - Andy McIlwain

"Functionality should be a given. If you're putting a solution in front of me, I expect it to work. Same rule applies for every product/service presented by every vendor/provider. Never underestimate the power of cool. Even in enterprise, you're still appealing to users. < /twocents >" - Andy McIlwain

"Some context from my experience as a blogger covering the gaming industry: We typically collected coverage from 4-5 other "quality" sources (ie., sites we liked), cited them all, provided our own summary and pushed out our post through Digg, Twitter, Facebook, etc. There's nothing scientific to the system. It's just modus operandi. Build it into your process and you're set." - Andy McIlwain

"Some context from my experience as a blogger covering the gaming industry: We typically collected coverage from 4-5 other "quality" sources (ie., sites we liked), cited them all, provided our own summary and pushed out our post through Digg, Twitter, Facebook, etc. There's nothing scientific to the system. It's just modus operandi. Build it into your process and you're set." - Andy McIlwain

"And neither was Twitter, Google, Facebook or GroupOn when they first launched. Simple ideas executed well trump complex ideas executed poorly." - Andy McIlwain

"And neither was Twitter, Google, Facebook or GroupOn when they first launched. Simple ideas executed well trump complex ideas executed poorly." - Andy McIlwain

"I think the physical Internet setup in Canada could also be compared to our highway system: Our highways are not as intricate as other countries, on account of our geography and population distribution. But they're still a fundamental part of our national infrastructure. We pay for maintenance and expansion of our highways through taxes. As long as we have a vehicle, we're free to drive on the highways as much as we want. If we want to avoid the slowdown of traffic and get around quicker, there are tolled highways. The Internet in Canada is also wired differently than in other countries. That's why it's difficult to get broadband access in rural communities. But it's still a key part of our national infrastructure. For Canada to remain globally competitive and relevant, we need the Internet. As consumers (both business and personal), we pay a monthly fee to access the Internet. If we have the proper hardware (computer + modem), we should be free to use the Internet as much as we want...." - Andy McIlwain

"I think the physical Internet setup in Canada could also be compared to our highway system: Our highways are not as intricate as other countries, on account of our geography and population distribution. But it's a fundamental part of our national infrastructure. We pay for maintenance and expansion of our highways through taxes. As long as we have a vehicle, we're free to drive on the highways as much as we want. If we want to avoid the slowdown of traffic and get around quicker, there are tolled highways. The Internet in Canada is also wired differently than in other countries. That's why it's difficult to get broadband access in rural communities. But it's still a key part of our national infrastructure. For Canada to remain globally competitive and relevant, we need the Internet. As consumers (both business and personal), we pay a monthly fee to access the Internet. If we have the proper hardware (computer + modem), we should be free to use the Internet as much as we want. If we..." - Andy McIlwain

"Thanks, Eric. Regarding Finckenstein's statement about leaps forward in technology: I think he's generally aware that a lot of things are changing, but I don't think he understands it well enough to be setting the guidelines. By his own admission, the CRTC policies/procedures implemented decades ago provide zero guidance when it comes to a subject as complex as the Internet. So he's turning to the telecoms for their guidance instead. I'm worried that he's been led astray by Bell." - Andy McIlwain

"Thanks, Eric. Regarding Finckenstein's statement about leaps forward in technology: I think he's generally aware that a lot of things are changing, but I don't think he understands it well enough to be setting the guidelines. By his own admission, the system implemented decades ago doesn't provide any guidance when it comes to a subject as complex as the Internet. So he's turning to the telecoms for their guidance instead. I'm worried that he's been led astray by Bell." - Andy McIlwain

"Thanks for the comment, Bill. And thank you for breaking down the numbers on how UBB goes after small and medium users." - Andy McIlwain

"Thanks for the comment, Bill. And thank you for breaking down the numbers on how UBB goes after small and medium users." - Andy McIlwain

"What surprises me even more is that Finckenstein is the former head of the Competition Bureau (check out his profile @ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/abou...). You'd think that he'd be more resistant to obvious conflicts of interest." - Andy McIlwain

"What surprises me even more is that Finckenstein is the former head of the Competition Bureau (check out his profile @ http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/abou.... You'd think he'd be more resistant to obvious conflicts of interest." - Andy McIlwain

"The big ISP's are also the biggest players in television, radio, print and mobile telecommunications. In a nutshell, the Canadian communications market is dominated by a few massive corporations and protected by the CRTC." - Andy McIlwain

"The big ISP's are also the biggest players in television, radio, print and mobile. In a nutshell, the Canadian communications market is dominated by two massive corporations (Bell & Rogers) and protected by the CRTC." - Andy McIlwain

"Test post!" - Andy McIlwain