Explaining the Rise of the Geek

The status of Geek has become generally accepted by the masses of today. Has the general public had a change in heart? Nope. What has happened so that the once negatively ridiculed class is now so widely adopted? What gives?

Its all in the perspective. It's not that geeks have become cooler, its that the cool kids are now a little "geekier". Welcome to the club, kids. Its not always this easy.

The persona of a geek is usually one who is technically savvy but has limited social skills. The geek lifestyle which many times revolves around more technical pursuits naturally creates a lack in social interaction. In today's information age, many more people have become exposed to and use computers as well as other new technology. Baby Boomers have learned how to use it, Gen Xers have adopted to it. Generation X-Box have had this technology as part of everyday living their whole lives.

As technology weaves in as part of our wired and always connected life, we are all becoming more technically savvy as well as a little more socially removed. We know more people virtually around the world than on our street. We isolate ourselves in our own homes from one another with our own interests and entertainment. We even text and twitter more than ever before. Welcome to the world of the geek.

I plan on looking at some deeper social impacts in future postings.


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The SIG Is The New " Local".

Page Two, Newspaper Decline.
For good or for bad, the declining popularity of the newspaper is falling below it's critical mass of viability. Readership levels are dropping and so goes the rest of the business. Beware that there is a larger issue than the newspaper being an irrelevant media for the dynamic, interactive, interconnected "Generation X-Box" (thanks to John C. For that label). There is a fundamental reorganization of our social makeup underway. Because the next generation is interconnected and wired on a worldwide scale, the concept and current definition of "community" is now evolving. The idea of "Local" is no longer as important (or as relevant) as it was in the past. Physical location plays less of a factor to the makeup of one's community.

I remember around the late 1970s and early 80s as BBS's were starting to loose my ("local") interest , I started logging into my Compuserve Account and joining "Special Interest Groups", or "SIGs". The idea was simple: Using the latest technology, connect with people with whom you had similar interests. Communicate to people and open dialogs with those whom you would have never engaged in conversation due to the lack of physical proximity. AOL also had similar SIG manifestations in the 1990s.

The SIG today is more than a return of an old concept . It is one of the first clear signs of how social interaction will be rearranged on a fundamental level. SIGS have always existed in one form or another (clubs, groups, organizations,etc). Most organizations were challenged to remain viable if there was a lack of their common interest in a certain physical proximity. The internet makes this proximity issue irrelevant. Locality no longer a factor . The Specialized Interest has usurped the local interest in today's world. Get ready for the change. Generation X-Box already has and has embraced it.

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Attention: We are now passing Mile Marker IPTV

When there are changes in social habits within a culture, we often tend to look for a defining moment to describe that change. The particular moment we define may not be the singular event that caused the cultural change, but is usually an event that best captures the characteristics of that event. (i.e "years of the Ipod" will probably define overall MP3 Mania)

I believe we are on the cusp of such a defining moment in the area of television viewing. We are wrapping up the last days of the TV watching phenomenon known as time shifted viewing. Starting with VTRs and ending with TIVOs along with cable's On-demand programming, we will now enter the next TV watching experience : IPTV. Since IPTV is still a concept, it has different meanings with different people. For discussion here, lets define it as on demand television viewing via internet protocol. As a merge of cable's On demand service programming along video podcasting, I believe that IPTV is about to sky rocket.

You may ask me why it hasn't happened already? Companies like Archos and Wifi TV have been offering their solutions already in this realm. Hasn't this craze already begun? Yes it has - Just as satellite TV was used prior to the Direct TV / Dish Network craze, there are always pioneers and bleeding edge consumers who pave the way. I myself was involved in a venture company that was streaming IP content as early as 1998. I believe the key component is critical mass. There is a point in time where new technology is understood and is adapted by the mass consumer market. We are on the precipice of that IPTV mile marker.

What will be the genesis of IPTV? A couple of factors. First and foremost is Apple's upcoming "iTV" set top box that is set to be announced soon. Steve Jobs eludes to his iTV box as being the Itunes for your living room. There is a trust level that consumers now have with Apple. Overall, customers have had positive experiences with the Ipod, and they will be open to new Apple technology. Additionally, the new level of high end game consoles permit for more than game play, allowing for movie watching on a disc locally or watching via IP. Tivo is also experimenting with the replay of IP based shows.

Podcasters who have been experimenting with this technology are just getting the hang of it themselves - And just in time! Podcastcasters that are catching early audiences have started to realize that they need more than solid programming. To take their shows to the next level, they have realized the value in product "branding". Two examples that come to mind are Leo Laporte's "TWiT" (This Week in Tech) and Kevin Rose's "Rev3". Both brands now have multiple popular shows and are now being put under their own "umbrella". I think this is key in their marketing success as IPTV rolls out.

Other companies like CNET and Ziff Davis will probably soon follow suit with their podcasting projects, and put more energy into marketing and more emphasis into branding. Ziff Davis and it's competitors may be gun shy after living through TechTV's failure in cable. I remind them not to forget that the all the dynamics with podcasting are far different than with cable, and being reluctant now may put them behind in this new upcoming IPTV wave. Don't worry guys, your audience is tech savvy and is out there. They will be early adopters.

I solute all of the early podcast pioneers working with the limited resources they have; and wish you the best in success for seeing the future. To help inspire you, I know and have seen a working profitable model using this technology. Rolling out programming now will hope further cash in on a growing audiences.

And a personal note to Podcasters: The pioneers always take the most arrows. The ones who follow you have it easy. Podcasters "get it", and "get it now". This is bleeding edge technology, but not for too much longer. Try to survive guys, the future is near! I have been waiting for a decade for this concept to come to fruition and I can't wait for the great road ahead.

Will it be Open Season for Open Office 2.0 ?

As Microsoft Office 2007 approaches its official release, I have concerns that its new office suite may not be as well received as hoped. Although I believe MS Office will still remain the most dominant player in the office suite options, Microsoft may start to see a chink in its Office’s armour on dominance.

There is no doubt Microsoft spent exorbitant time and money on their new “ribbon” GUI. We are at a time where we need a fresh update to computer interfaces. I congratulate Microsoft on doing such a great job on the Ribbon GUI. It’s a step in the right direction, and a much needed update to doing “computer business as usual”.

Unfortunately, people are creatures of habit, and usually resist change as much as possible. Although the masses will adapt to the new office suite, I predict we will probably see (the largest size to date) a group of people who will not upgrade to Office 2007 or seek Open Office as a possible alternative. Why Open Office? It’s an Office Suite that should be savvy enough to be compatible to the MS Office new xml file formats, but will have a look and feel more similar to MS Office 2003.

Its unknown if the growth of Open Office 2.0 will be enough to affect Office 2007. I do however think we will begin to see an MS Office suite alternative start to bubble up more than ever before.

P.S.

For those of you making the leap to 2007, I recommend this flash player reference window from Microsoft as a reference source for finding your way around the new GUI.

SEPT 10 UPDATE:

IBM announced today it will join the OpenOffice.org community and contribute code and company resources to the software project. [Announcement Link Here]

IMHO: Why Apple switched to Intel

Although I was initially surprised to see Apple switch to the Intel platform, the reasoning soon became clear to me. Although I never had heard of a full, believable explanation in recent reports of why the hardware switch was made from Motorola to Intel, I believe the answer can be found in examining Apple's History. If you take the time and review all of Apple's past announcements, I believe the big picture reason is right in front of you.

Apple's critical thinking is best personified in an excerpt from Steve Jobs in an Apple event from the 1990's. ( I cant remember exactly which event, and if anyone knows, please feel free to post the event.) There is no doubt that Microsoft and it's Operating System dominate in the computing market. Steve Jobs once stated that the Windows OS plus the Mac OS equals 100% of the computing market. I think this is one of the principles that still holds true, and that this simple concept help persuade the hardware move. [ note: I think in 2007 the Equation is almost the same, with the modification that you include LINUX and possible long-term UNIX growth into the mix. ]

How can Apple grab more market share? Instead of pulling users from one side to to another, work from both sides instead. Why not make an Apple OS that can run Windows? Apple still holds overall control via Apple hardware; they have nothing to loose and all to gain. (Think about it - How many Apple users will fall in love with Windows and make their next computer a Windows based PC? Not many.)

By making the Apple OS available to users who would not have to give up their old Operating environments, the Mac OS becomes much more attractive - Especially when users don't have to (or can't) make a solitary commitment to a platform change. Apple now has afforded itself a new possibility to gain market share by offering the safe bet - A machine that will give you options of any (and ALL) operating systems and eliminating the necessity of making the "all or nothing" choice. An Apple hardware choice also allows for long term growth with easier Linux and Unix compatibility. It's a smart move by Apple to make the OS jump easier for computer users, and gain more market share in the process.