Sandy Hamilton - Perspectives

Good Night and Good Luck

Went to see Good Night and Good Luck last night. Although I grew up in the post McCarthyism era I can vividly remember the terms "pinko commie" being a part of our everyday language in my earliest years. I thought the film was remarkable. It certainly shed a new light for me on the persecution of those with differing beliefs from that of our government in the 50's. Edward R. Murrow was a lighting rod for uncovering and making public the thoughts of the common man albeit slanted from his perspective. Thank god for people like Edward R Murrow and others who had the guts to stand up to the "way it is" and challenge authority. We've come a long way.

Where Do The Years Go?

You always hear the adage "they grow up so fast". Lex and Alec turned 9 and 7 this month, (17th and 29th).

I'm continually amazed by both of them and by Ashley who's now 17 and is in the process of interviewing schools for her next challenge. I look at the calendar and it's 2005 but I clearly remember it being 1977 and me graduating from high school and off to college - although that was 28 years ago! I learn different things from each one of my kids as I observe and interact with them. Each with their own unique way of contributing to the world, of impacting others. As Alec turned 7 yesterday Christine was having a difficult time seeing "her baby" transition into being a young man as if there's something magical about a date on a calendar associated with how many years you've been alive. I remember my parents being "worried" about their kids growing up and what the world would be like for them. I look at the rate of change we have in our world and see nothing but excitement and opportunity for their future. So I sit and smile each time I look at them, each time I talk to them knowing that they make a difference.

Web 2.0 Conference

I'm at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco this week along with Greg Reinacker, Brent Simmons and Jennifer Smith of NewsGator. The conference is amazing, all the latest technologies applied to the web. NewsGator garnered the early "buzz" with our acquisition of NetNewsWire and that continues to be the hot topic but there's a lot to consume here. There are two things that struck me most; One is the transformation of what we know as the "Web" from one way to a two-way platform of communication. To date most of the web has been created, delivered and managed by corporate America, and we as users consume that data. The other is the "mashing" of programs through open source or "APIs" that allow programs talk to one another, to share data with one another.The cool thing is that there are applications/programs that have been created and are being used today by early technology adopters that is just amazing. The new functionality that I witnessed today will blow your socks off. In 5 years we will be looking back at the way we used the web in 2005 and laugh. Web 2.0 will be a completely different experience for all of us. It's about bringing the power of the web to the people. Yea, web 2.0 is kind of like "power to the people" vs. "the man" (saw that in a movie). Can't wait until tomorrow.

Rollin, Rollin, Rollin

Last week we acquired Ranchero Software, makers of the ever so popular RSS aggregator software NetNewsWire for the Mac. We were waiting for Web 2.0 to start this Wednesday to formally announce the acquisition but someone got "happy fingers" and broke the news early in the blogesphere via a leak. You can read about it officially here or of course by searching the blogesphere through NewsGator on-line for key word "Newsgator" for other juicy comments by friends and foes alike.

This is a big deal for NewsGator, it rounds out our Individual User products platform. We now have interfaces for Outlook (NewsGator for Outlook), the Web (NewsGator Online), the Desktop (FeedDemon edition), mobile (NewsGator mobile edition) and now the Mac (NetNewsWire)...all synchronized to deliver you your RSS feeds now matter where you are. We also are extremely happy to have Brent join the team, Brent's a rock solid developer not to mention one of the nicest businessman you'll ever meet. With the treo of Greg, Nick and now Brent you do the math. The NewsGator family has the best of the best from the RSS world in terms of products and talent.

NewsGator, #1 in Individual Use RSS products, #1 in Enterprise RSS Server and #1 in Private label RSS solutions. The RSS Platform Company!