John Martin's Blog: June 2005 Archives

Gnomedex Thoughts

Posted on June 27, 2005 12:02 AM

Well, Gnomedex is over and I'm back in Toronto. I had a really good time - Chris puts on a good show. So, on with the obligatory wrap-up:

Dave's keynote was good. I don't know if I'm sold on the outliner yet. I'm increasingly an outliner guy, but I think my usage patterns fall within just a small subset of what Dave is trying to achieve, so I'm naturally biased to particular types of features. It just seems like there is a bit of solution-looking-for-a-problem going on. I don't see (yet) what outlines are adding to blog editing or instant messaging.
The Longhorn announcement was great. Dean got a little short with some of the audience questions, but it was a tough crowd. I think they're making absolutely the right move. I don't know that I see it enabling new types of solutions, but it'll certainly spur adoption among users and take care of a lot of the plumbing that developers have to do today. Having said that though, Longhorn still seems so far away...
The Simple List Extentions look really good. Simple, elegant and powerful.
The Seattle Public Library is a magnificent building. What a great place to hold a networking event. Especially when there is a table full of pt's gadgets.
Speaking of pt, his hacking demo's during the breaks were one of the highlights.
Julie Leung's talk was amazing. I really wasn't expecting that. Scoble put it perfectly when he said "You can HEAR the audience eating out of her hand."
I thought people were a little tough on Steve Rubel. The ratio between information and sales pitch was definitely a little off, but I didn't think it was that bad.

Thanks Chris!

Tags: gnomedex, seattle, outliner

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Big Shot Horry

Posted on June 20, 2005 12:28 AM

What a bucket... Robert Horry is an enigma. Great game, great series.

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I agree with BusinessPundit, who disagrees with Christopher from The Social Customer Manifesto, who says that Seth Godin, in All Marketers Are Liars, is being disrespectful to consumers. It seems to me that Seth is simply making the observation that the "story" behind a product greatly influences the level of satisfaction that particular people, namely those whose worldview aligns with the story, derive from purchasing it. Does it matter if the story and/or the all-things-being-equal utility of the product is scientifically accurate? I don't think so. The end result is the same, and is real.

For the past several weeks I've been looking to buy a new driver (as in the biggest stick in your golf bag, driver). Paul, my golfing buddy, has stressed to me the importance of getting a club that "fits your eye". Now obviously, in a void, the "fits your eye"-edness of a club is a property that doesn't even exist, let alone add value. But as soon as I step up to the tee box and get a kick of confidence because of the way it looks the story is completed and the value is created. However placebo-like the mechanism, the end result, the value, is real.

Tags: sethgodin, allmarketersareliars