I've never had the guts to tackle Ulysses but if I have to wade my way through another Steve Gillmor dissertation I'll probably be up for the challenge. Is it a brilliant ploy by the Attention evangelist to ensure we devote 110% of that scarce resource to deciphering his messages or is he blinding us with bullshit? I'll give him the benefit of the doubt because his mischievous sense of humour ensures that the Gillmor Gang is always an entertaining listen.
However, while I like to think that I know a thing or two about RSS, OPML, AJAX and other Web 2.0 buzzwords du jour, when it comes to Attention and Gestures Steve leaves me scratching my head -
"Finally, to gestures. If attention is true, then what now? If Office is dead, then what replaces it? The inforouter. How does that work? Poorly, at first. Poorly in the sense that the river of news is poor. Poor in the sense that when everyone can have an executive information system for the price of a connection, then how do we make paradise function more efficiently? Poor like the lowest paid millionaire at Google. Poor in the sense that every client is a rich client. Not poor, just uneducated."
Huh? I mean WTF? Next time Steve please listen to Seth - "more simplicity, to get to the underlying fundamentals". But do hold onto that sense of humour ;-)
Technorati Tags: Steve Gillmor, Attention, Gestures
Steve strikes me as someone who spends too much time talking with Doc Searls and the rest of the 'cluetrain' cultists. I'm sure what he's saying makes perfect sense to him and his buddies but he needs to cut back on the coffee, turn off his PC and read Strunk & White's "Elements of Style".
Posted by: walter | February 07, 2006 at 10:42 AM
Actually, Doc spends too much time talking to me for his own good.
And Eire, you're pretty good in the humour department y'sef.
Posted by: Steve Gillmor | February 07, 2006 at 05:55 PM
Hehe, thanks for not taking my little jibe too seriously Steve and keep up the great Podcasts!
Walter I know what you're saying but I think its obvious that Steve doesn't take himself too seriously and that's part of the charm. Having said that I don't doubt that he has generated a very important meme in 'Attention'. I may find his ideas hard to follow but I still its a very important concept.
And its nice of or us non-programming 'users' to think we can party with the developers as equals in the innovation stakes :)
Posted by: James Corbett | February 07, 2006 at 07:09 PM
You should tackle Ulysses someday, it's definately worth reading! I'm 650 pages in and it's absolutely fantasticly undoubtably the most intrigingly composed text i've ever read... some of the sentences stretch for two pages! Joyce's boldness in both his raw use of the English language is as interesting as the actual content of the book.
Posted by: CGorman | February 07, 2006 at 09:59 PM