Getting on the Cluetrain......................
For those who missed the story, yesterday's WSJ had a story about the ClueTrain Manifesto phenomenon. You can read all about this at www.cluetrain.com. Four well known rebels got together, shared their thoughts and then posted on the virtual common. It's attracted a ton of eyeballs, thought and praise.
I waded in myself and signed the questbook. But I went one step further to contact two of the contributors directly - one via email, another by phone, then email.
This stuff IS the revolution and Novell, whether they understand it or not, is right smack in the middle of it. I've been trying to contact some of the people inside Novell who I spoke to while in Utah 4 weeks ago and they are being silent. NOT a good sign for a company trying to lead this - Duh, now I get it..... - The Quiet Revolution.
So I will share with you what I shared with the engineers of Cluetrain.
Victor, you are 1000% right. Novell has to claim the power of this space NOW!! Someone, somewhere, sometime.....deep inside Novell has to give up the ghost on this "closed, superior, infrastructure-only" mentality. Novell better reach out and virally climb into the minds, hearts and eyes of every single individual that walks the planet. They need to do this NOW. The revolution has begun.
Eric, Chris, Mike, Stewart.....et. al. go read the Cluetain Manifesto. Get off your apps. Start an internet division. Get to know your END USERS - the Holy Grail - the INDIVIDUAL. Give individuals the control to the Digtial Me NDS Kingdom. Light a fire under NDS development apps worldwide. Evangelize this puppy.
GO!!
I know you have all read many of my thoughts before, but here's some of what I shared with the four Cluetrain rebels....... You can join in this space and contact these guys directly by going to www.cluetrain.com.
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Subj: RE: cluetrain
Date: 4/10/99 7:19:30 AM Central Daylight Time
From: xxxx@???????
To: FKSmart@aol.com
CC: xxx@??????.com, xxxxxxxxxx@???.com, xxxxx@?????.com
Fred,
This is a terrific articulation. I'm trying to find ways to disagree or add,
but I'm pretty much stumped. (Oh, I could quibble about the individual not being king, but instead the community being king, which is why the individual can appear to be king, but I can see that you already agree with that.)
Thanks for putting it so well.
Best,
xxxxxxx x.
Subj: Re: cluetrain
Date: 4/9/99 2:05:00 PM Central Daylight Time
From: FKSmart
To: xxxx@???????.com
In a message dated 4/9/99 10:14:08 AM Central Daylight Time, xxxx@???????.com writes:
<< I got your phone msg. Thanks for tracking me down.
For the next ten days -- and in general -- it'll be easier to reach me via
email. (I much prefer email to phones for most communications.)
So, unless you're email-averse, perhaps we can chat via this medium, at least for now. Ok?
Thanks again for the ping. >>
Hi xxxxx.
Here's my/our basic understanding of what's going on.
New communication mediums are checkmating ALL businesses that operate from the Old Business Model: take energy, don't show all your cards, my win's your loss, protect your backside, limit risk, etc....= GROWTH
The OId Business model could be supported as long as companies controlled their own intellectual property, product development, marketing and distribution.
Companies could maintain this model as long as they could co-opt, slice and dice enough new innovative companies or employees into being sucked into their energy taking paradigm. Invariably, because the cost of access and communication to warm markets was so high these little guys didn't stand much of a chance.
The New Business Model of the Internet and the world of IP has turned the pyramids upside down: open up, share, give, cooperate, network, empower = GROWTH.
For the first time in world history, THE INDIVIDUAL IS KING. This has been the case all along, but companies, politicians and people in positions of influence don't want us to believe this. If we as individuals remain "defined" we remained "boxed" and thus limited - ie. someone, some company, somewhere, sometime has power over us because we've given him/her/it that power. In effect, we place the personal value of "our network", "our community", "our value-added" in check for the benefit of whomever we work for, etc.
I firmly believe that these technologies are really bringing mankind back to our roots in more ways than we think. Look at the early part of this century. Neighborhoods and communities were more "socially aware" and secure than they are now. Why? Because people used their networking skills - knowing the who/what/where/when/how/why of their neighbors comings and going - more during that time then now. As a nation and global community, we've lost many of our basic networking skills - saying "hello", smiling, engaging others with interest and cheer. Even hobbies and pastimes such as singing have gone far out of favor. We've retreated away from a physically networked and viral existence into a hollow shell.
Now, inside this hollow shell we turn on the internet, plug into a cellphone, zap someone on Nextel, converge our voice/fax/pages/email/cellphone technologies into a more unified whole.
As a world we are relearning basic tribal networking values and skills. A techno-tribalism is gradually taking hold, led by the rebels such as you guys. I agree with the basic message, but I think the foundation that supports if must come from a position of personal trust and an ongoing commitment to look out for and serve others.
True capitalism is simply about serving others.
We are at the dawning of an incredible age where convergence technologies can set us up to become more connected, more leveraged, efficient and productive.
Actions and reality are beginning to fall behind thought at this stage in the game. Witness the internet stocks. There's a powerful arbitrage going on: openness versus closed systems and companies. Old vs. New. And the US is leading this revolution and in a great position to benefit financially from a global geopolitical and economic arbitrage where our leadership shows other countries the benefit of this "new open" way and we all have a "win/win" on our hands.
I do not see any leadership in the world articulating the fundamental driver of this revolution: the energy that gets released when individuals claim their personal FREEDOM. The other core aspect is that these technologies prove the spiritual truism every second of every day - "GIVE AND YOU WILL RECEIVE MORE..." The internet is growing to rapidly because people instinctively know that if they spend a little time at the keyboard they will, by default, get back so much more.
We've entered the same zone Thomas Paine was in when he looked around 220+ years ago and asked "why aren't you people claiming your freedom and power...this is ridiculous." Now the message is more personal, more individual. We as individuals have NO EXCUSE to sit on the fence and be passive onlookers to this revolution. Ideas and freedom create energy - the new currency for this age. Money means less and less. Effecting positive change is the new end game for we all must "get it" - serving others is the end game.
It's been a pleasure sharing these thoughts with someone who is there on the same cutting edge. It's time to evangelize this message. In a virtual world, Thomas Paines can be duplicatable and replicatable.
Best.
Fred Smart
President
Smart Bandwidth, LLC
Note: Oh, by the way our goal is to "unbundle the National Market System" for trades, shares and quotes. We have technology we are moving into the securities industry right now. My partners built one of the largest real-time global data distribution technology platforms in the world in the late 80's - it's still running and making that company a ton of money. We are 2-3 generations beyond that...... "smart bandwidth....the power of objects.....finally enough marbles out there to make it all happen..."
FS |
