Catching up from Web 2.0

Wow, it’s been a hectic couple of weeks since Web 2.0! We had a terrific show --- got lots of traffic, multiple interviews, and generally had a blast. We showed off our latest stuff, including Zude’s new SocialMix (http://www.zude.com/socialmix), which was just written up in TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/05/17/facebooks-friends-data-has-already-left-the-barn/).

Web 2.0 had a great turn-out and was populated by all the big guys: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Citrix and more (a total of 178 companies exhibited). The best news for us was the selection by eWeek of Zude as the #2 coolest technology amongst all of the exhibitors --- second only to Microsoft’s new Mesh stuff! Now, that’s heady stuff!!!!

Here’s the whole article: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Messaging-and-Collaboration/Coolest-Technologies-Demoed-at-Web-20/4/

Data Portability Ratchets up the BUZZ!!!!

Today, a WILD conversation is going on over at TechCrunch started by Mike Arrington (Data Portability: It’s The New Walled Garden) which has quickly evolved into a shouting match between him, Robert Scoble, and both sides of the Data Portability/Data Ownership issue. Interestingly, and despite the volume, they are on the same side of many of the issues -- though it's hard to tell from some of the posts! Make sure you check out the post and all of the comments (over 100 now and counting!).

All of this has important ramifications for you, your data, the sites you visit, and more. Want to get even more involved? This is not just an issue for MySpace, FaceBook, or Zude. Carry the conversation further on DataPortability.org.

Google, MySpace, and Facebook Open Up???

There is currently a "lands grab" going on in the social computing space that was started by the whole Data Portability initiative -- unfortunately the stakes being driven into the ground are centered around proprietary solutions (APIs) . Two conflicting schools of thought are emerging related to this subject. Google, MySpace, and Facebook believe that a SINGLE STORE will be used to house all of your social presence -- regardless of where you access it from. And, of course, each one of these guys believes that they can own the STORE --- which is exactly what puts each of their solutions at odds with each other (and other existing solutions and standards). The Data Portability initiative sees things a bit differently. Specifically, your data is housed GLOBALLY (without single ownership of a DATA STORE), and they seek to provide common ways to access and update the information in a distributed manner.

On the larger front, it is interesting to note that Google by itself does not really have a USER BASE to share, regardless of their CONNECT initiative. However, I believe this signals a MAJOR SHIFT for them from casual visitors (i.e. users of their search engine) to registered users with associated profile data. This is initially fed by iGOOGLE and ORKUT, but I think GOOGLE will now focus VERY HEAVILY on "profiling" the world's user base...

Stay tuned as I believe this is opportunistic for all users as well as Zude!