Hank Williams

What a great title. I *have* to read this post. BRB. - Yolanda ♥s Nuttycakes

Good points, Hank. It is the same with many things. We frequently choose the path of least resistance without acknowledging that we are going to end up paying for it somewhere. - Yolanda ♥s Nuttycakes

Part of the problem is that web development is fairly easy. Almost anyone can learn some html, javascript, css and php and present a decent looking website. People think that once you have a website, the money should start rolling in. - Rob Diana

yeah, the problem is its like saying "writing" is easy. Just because you can create a complete sentence does not mean you can take a few weeks and write the great american novel. - Hank Williams

"I would definitely agree that a bad founder/CEO/management team can and will ruin a great idea. My main point is that people, I think too often, suggest that the idea part just isnt very important. My point is that the idea part is *really* important, and that the reason the tech market has been sucking is because of lack of good ideas. I would tend to argue that, particularly in the current market, you need both good ideas and good mgmt/execution." - Hank Williams

"Thanks Nate, I'll take it :)" - Hank Williams

"I would agree that the data is more valuable to users than the map stuff. But I do think that giving people real thumbnail dynamic insight into a site is going to become much more common and important compared to dry static homepages. As I think about what our homepage will be like, this has definitely informed my thinking. I think its going to be more important than just eye candy." - Hank Williams

"indeed. I had one too. It does suck now, as often happens when the original visionary leader is out the door. They cant seem to do much but tinker around the edges. I left it for blackberry." - Hank Williams

"Good points Eric. Although at the end of the day companies are just people, and Andy Rubin, creator of the Sidekick, and creator of and head of Android could have pulled it off, and if he did, they would have been better for it I think." - Hank Williams

The software industry has been making huge revenue based on support. Typically 20-30% yearly of a software contract is support in the enterprise world. I am not sure how well this translates to online services however. Google is a slightly different case as they have started to offer "enterprise" software with things like Google Apps. I have seen some software charge a fee for "premium" support, which was a different phone number than traditional support. It could work. - Rob Diana

@Rob in the old days, people actually paid for software *and* paid for support. Not just enterprises. The only reason enterprises pay, and the only reason consumers will pay, is if there is real value. If people don't care enough about your software to pay for support it just means its not that important to them. The situation I cite in the story is not an enterpirse one, but a consumer situation, unless you just categorize anything of real value as "enterprise" :) - Hank Williams

"interesting extended thoughts" - Hank Williams

I agree with Erik M Jacobs on your blog - those products are targeting folks who don't automatically think of using the internet, or who don't have easy access to the 'net. - Brent Newhall

but are those people watching msnbc? And I suspect that Flomax is targeted to upper middle class men. I doubt there are very many people reading popular mechanics that dont have access to the internet. - Hank Williams

Right... so it's half bad ad placement and half bad ads... in a sense. - Erik Jacobs

"wow... #11 thanks!!!!" - Hank Williams

Good post, Hank. So bad at PR, so good at Marketing. Are the two inversely correlated? Certainly not in every dimension, but Apple's secrecy regarding product launches and future developments is a big part of their marketing strategy. And they seem to be unwilling or unable to abandon this secrecy in other parts of their communication (MobileMe problems, iPhone SDK). - Ole Begemann

I've wondered the same thing. How can they be so good at marketing but suck at handling their image after the sale? - Yolanda ♥s Nuttycakes

Its funny, I am waiting to see how long it takes for the crazed fanbois to attack over this. it seems to always happen. - Hank Williams

The other disadvantage (in the UK at least) is their repair service. 7-10 days return to base. Buy a similar machine from Dell at around the same total cost and you get 3 year, next-business-day, on-site repairs. - Russ

"But the reason they have distribution windows is so that they can sell you a movie ticket and then sell you a DVD or on demand play later. They make their profit by double dipping, and also, typically at least 2 people (and often a family) go to see a movie so your $20 sale would be presumably for a whole family. Also as far as I remember a substantial majority of the ticket price of a movie goes to the studio. The theaters make money on the concessions. I forget the studio/theater ratio but perhaps someone here knows what it is." - Hank Williams

"But the reason they have distribution windows is so that they can sell you a movie ticket and then sell you a DVD or on demand play later. They make their profit by double dipping, and also, typically at least 2 people (and often a family) go to see a movie so your $20 sale would be presumably for a whole family. Also as far as I remember a substantial majority of the ticket price of a movie goes to the studio. The theaters make money on the concessions. I forget the studio/theater ratio but perhaps someone here knows what it is." - Hank Williams

"How would a compulsory requirement to download movies at a "reasonable" price without distribution windows generate sufficient money to pay for $150 million movies? Call me skeptical, but I just don't think what you might define as reasonable prices, particularly with unencrypted content, will generate the money necessary to make these films. If your thesis is wrong, as you would have to admit is at least possible, that would literally be the end of the blockbuster big budget movie. I don't know for sure that I am right, but gosh, if I am, is that really what we want and is it worth the risk? -- Yes I know the artsy people will say who needs batman anyway, but I, being uncultured, love a big budget summer blockbuster :)." - Hank Williams

"How would a compulsory requirement to download movies at a "reasonable" price without distribution windows generate sufficient money to pay for $150 million movies? Call me skeptical, but I just don't think what you might define as reasonable prices, particularly with unencrypted content, will generate the money necessary to make these films. If your thesis is wrong, as you would have to admit is at least possible, that would literally be the end of the blockbuster big budget movie. I don't know for sure that I am right, but gosh, if I am, is that really what we want and is it worth the risk? -- Yes I know the artsy people will say who needs batman anyway, but I, being uncultured, love a big budget summer blockbuster :)." - Hank Williams

Personally, yes, I would welcome a world without big-budget blockbuster movies. Somehow, I'd find a way to cope. - Brent Newhall

My list of following and followers has been cut in half. - Mike Fruchter

I just posted about this. http://bit.ly/3NxGg8 looks like everything is probably going to be ok, but it does highlight what I call the nightmare twitter scenario - Hank Williams

I've also just published a post on it at http://www.profy.com/2008/07/2.... So we now have a new glitch in addition to a simple fail whale. Now I guess we will start to see new twitter backup" apps emerging :) - Svetlana Gladkova via twhirl

This makes me angry and forces me to curse. - AJ Kohn

Read about the fingerprinting about a week ago. It is worrying, this is the kind of thing that happened just before WW2. - Andrew Roche via twhirl

Heavy people, heavy life..., incredible! What is the humanist is to italians? - Gabcsi

well, this is good and bad news - Hank Williams

Great post. The end is the salient point: VC's push for liquidation events, either sale or IPO. It would be nice to see a VC that was interested in developing a portfolio of businesses that they maintain a long-term stake in, rather than trying to flip them for quick returns. - Jason Carreira

Michael - I agree and you're right about how VC's only expect a small fraction of their investments to return high valuations. But those high valuations typically include revenues, a sale/merger, or an IPO. So perhaps some VC's are willing to chance a cool technology without a revenue model, but I suspect in todays market that these are harder to find. - Jim McCusker

Totally forgot about my comment, but glad it sparked a reaction. Michael understood exactly what I was pointing to. Thanks for addressing it more timely and eloquently than I. - Marc Vermut via twhirl

People are criticizing Pickens because he stands to make money here. I am personally happy that *someone* is doing something. Thats the way things work, people invest money to make money. If that is good for the economy and the planet, all the better - Hank Williams

Well of course he's going to promote his venture. I don't get the kerfluffle. Like you said Hank, I'm glad someone is putting money down on this stuff. Nothing speaks louder. - Yolanda ♥s Nuttycakes

At the point Pickens has more credibility than Al Gore. - Jill, Superhero Librarian

This story is heating up as more details come out. It's claimed that Mente installed a hardware key logger to get Alicia's email password on Yahoo. - Jim McCusker

I heard this last night. Freaking incredible. - Hank Williams

well said Dave - Hank Williams

Everyone should take a few seconds out of their day to read this. What took me so long to find you? wow - Mona N.

@Hank. My take on this mess.http://tinyurl.com/6hkydp - Dave Martin

@Dave well said - Hank Williams

the end is near. Microblogging is going to be like email - Hank Williams

This is it exactly: "I think that Loren is angry. I think he's an angry guy. He didn't start out being angry at blacks, but he is now based on the response he's gotten. He also seems to have a racist fan base in there, and he feeds off that as well." Very calm and thoughtful interview. - Mark Trapp

@shey, as usual, thanks - Hank Williams

Thanks Mona. It was mostly just giving Hank a chance to respond. Equal time and all that. ;) - Cyndy

"To suggest that the right thing to do is to be silent in the face of racist words, or worse, to suggest that not being silent, or that protesting or boycotting or threatening boycotts is wrong, is to wipe away and invalidate what, for me, is the part of American history that has made my life possible, that is, peaceful protest. And what is apparent to me is that there is a current, younger generation that has in many cases never known about things that are recent enough for me to actually remember." - Phil Glockner via Bookmarklet

Here's my post: (FF will probably strip the CRLF's...) Hank, thank you for this insightful post. I actually found myself questioning racism this morning as I was waiting for my car to be washed, so this post is hitting me at the right time. I was sitting in the patio reading the paper and overhear two kids greet each other as "Dog," as in "What's up, Dog?" The first thing that came to mind was that they were members of a minority, which is a racist thought (I must admit). I looked up and saw that they were white. Of course, I know that people of all races use slang. I caught myself and reinforced my goal to not be racist. What came next was what caused me to question racism. A common stereotype is for car wash employees to be Mexican. When the two (white) kids rode off in their bicycles, they started shouting in Spanish. I don't remember everything they said but I do remember them saying the Spanish equivalent to "f*** your mom" and that they didn't use any explicitly racist words... - Oliver Ortega Chua

...It's been a while since I've experienced racism firsthand and I was stunned. I sat there questioning whether they were racist or just being kids trying to cause trouble. Deep down I felt they were racist. Why else would they yell in Spanish if not to antagonize the Mexicans (and other Hispanics)? I tried to justify it as "a couple of kids just having fun." I don't know what to think but I'm glad no one acknowledged what they were doing. I'm 32 years old. I grew up in a city that was 80% Hispanic. (Where I live now is 80% white.) I experienced racism directed towards me as a kid. Not from whites, but from Hispanics. It made me real sensitive to racism then. Over time, I didn't notice it as much around me (maybe because I'm older) but I know it's still there. I think racism will end when all the races have fully interbred. I'm Filipino/Chinese/Spanish/Mexican myself. I get asked what I am all the time. My answer? "Does it matter?" - Oliver Ortega Chua

"Hmm... "you're supposedly interested in pursuing". As you may or may not know, I have written extensively about my perspectives (and will continue to do so) both on my blog and at Alley Insider. I therefore prefer to develop these points in those places rather than in blog comments." - Hank Williams