Author: Mike

The Financial Times’ John Gapper reports tonight on advance wording in a speech that Microsoft associate general counsel Tom Rubin will give tomorrow. In his remarks, Rubin will take a shot at what Microsoft views as Google’s/YouTube’s
disregard for copyright rules.

I’m not a lawyer (in fact, in most people’s minds I’m only half a rung up the ladder as a PR person), so I won’t pretend to comment on whether Rubin has a legal leg to stand on. I do, however, believe that Rubin and others (RIAA/MPAA and proprietary software vendors are you listening?) are stuck in neutral while their customers and competitors move forward like a Porsche on a straightaway.

Microsoft and the old media guard are clinging to a copyright fight that is stuck in yesterday’s business models. They’ve refused to adapt to the tenets of business: listening to the market and their customers. Instead of fighting for history, they should be working with their customers — and, more importantly, their customers’ customers — to map out a better future.

I took a quick glance out of the back window of my house at around 7pm last night and caught the last moments of the lunar eclipse. Shot with a Canon 10D, lens extended to 250mm, f4 at just a shade longer than half a second (handheld, lens resting on my arm).

Dutch researchers say drinking a half glass of wine a day may increase life expectancy by 3.8 years. If true, I should live to the ripe old age of 185.

I just read an interesting post by Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes giving recruiting/hiring tips for start-ups. His approach is simple and spot-on. I especially like this tip:

Do you want him on your team? This is the number one question we ask our interviewers. Not do you think this person should work for the company, do you think they’re good but do you want them on your team. Is working closely with them for the next year something you’d want to do?

We follow a very similar philosophy at our four-year-old startup, Page One PR. Great companies are built on great teams…and great teams are built with great people. Not good people, great people (hint: check the link).

The filmmaker James Cameron claims to have found the lost tomb of Christ. Obviously, he’s taking some heat from Christians who won’t let a little bit of science get in the way of a good story. Personally, I like the not-too-subtle sarcasm in this quote from Cameron’s cohort, director Simcha Jacobovici:

“‘But they’re not necessarily the implications people think they are. For example, some believers are going to say, well this challenges the resurrection. I don’t know why, if Jesus rose from one tomb, he couldn’t have risen from the other tomb,’ Jacobovici told ‘Today.’”

It looks like one of the culprits behind the recent JetBlue fiasco was a faulty computer system (one built on a mix of Microsoft and SAP proprietary technologies). I’m not saying open source software would have been glitch-free either, but I do wonder whether the open source community could’ve assembled — like an IT S.W.A.T. team — to get the airline back up-and-running quicker.

Open source continues to chip away at proprietary software’s position in the enterprise. This morning, Open-Xchange (a Page One PR client) announced that 1&1 Internet will host one million e-mail accounts using Open-Xchange’s open source software.

An interesting catch by Dave Rosenberg over at the Open Sources blog on SAP’s newest software offering. It’s a vivid example of why I joined Page One PR: open source software, heck, the open source business model, is obliterating the old guard of technology. Today, there are two kinds of proprietary software companies: those, like IBM, that embrace open source; and those, like SAP and Microsoft, that cling to business models that are no longer relevant to a growing number of their customers.

OK, more like the dyslexic version: hair yesterday, gone today. But it’s looking more and more like I’ll have an excuse to use a comb again (and not for a comb-over): check out this new product I found on Luxist.

I’m old enough to know better, but tonight I’m going to play a pick-up hockey game. It’ll be my fourth time this year (the weather’s been cooperating despite global warming). Here’s where we play:

The rink is in my friend Kevin’s yard. It is roughly 55′ x 120′ and lit with two 1,000 watt halogen work lights. The curved driveway will make it easier for the ambulance to cart me away.