Channel 9 - Discussions by RobertScoble

Coffeehouse - Back to the Futurizer .. Why not Scoble?

RobertScoble — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 23:08:28 GMT

Bas wrote:

RobertScoble wrote:
I'd love it if someone from Channel 9 took my Zune Challenge.

Yeah, yeah, Zune. Anything to say about the comments on your .NET open source post?

Yeah, poorly researched post. Shoot me. I saw a ton of headlines that said that Microsoft had Open Sourced .NET. That isn't true. I learned that after I posted. In fact, it was pointed out to me within minutes of my posting and I updated my post to make it a lot more accurate within minutes.

That said, Java is really open sourced. So is Flex. .NET still isn't. That's a shame.

Coffeehouse - Back to the Futurizer .. Why not Scoble?

RobertScoble — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:18:43 GMT

I'd love it if someone from Channel 9 took my Zune Challenge.

But, mostly everyone here is right. I'm not worth listening to. I'm just an attention wh0re, like someone said.

That said, the people I interview for ScobleShow are worth listening to. In the year or so since leaving Channel 9 I've interviewed about 300 people, including tons of smart geeks and entrepreneurs and even gotten a tour or two of Microsoft in there as well.

Coffeehouse - PodTech in trouble?

RobertScoble — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:40:43 GMT

littleguru wrote:

I found it also interesting that he is going to reconsider his career in spring 2008, because then PodTech is probably moving in another direction. On one hand he is 100% committed on the other hand he is already knowing when he is going to probably leave (or at least consider it)

It's always fun when people try to put things in your words that simply were not there. It does not mean I'm going to consider leaving. It means I am going to look at my career and think about it then. Just like every Microsoft employee is FORCED to do through employee reviews in the summer time.

I'm the most profitable employee at PodTech, so doubt they'd change direction away from what I'm doing.

Coffeehouse - PodTech in trouble?

RobertScoble — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:38:17 GMT

>I don't think they are making lots of money.

We have millions of dollars in revenue. We aren't profitable yet (sort of like the Xbox group which is investing in a new market at a rate faster than it is monetizeable yet) but will be profitable by the end of the year.

Coffeehouse - Flex is Open source

RobertScoble — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:45:38 GMT

Adobe Opensources Flex.

Basically this makes Mix even more interesting to see what Microsoft does in response next week.

Coffeehouse - Fred: You Voted, We Listened

RobertScoble — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:58:47 GMT

There's lots of startups who can't afford a trip to go to Vegas.

But, even if every developer could, they simply couldn't fit into a conference hall. How many VB developers are there? I kept hearing there were three million when I worked at Microsoft.

So, how do you reach the other 2,999,000 that can't get to Mix?

Video. Audio. Text.

Who'll do all that video, audio, text?

Why do the press get front row seats at almost every Microsoft conference I've ever been to? Even the PDC, which is a much more developer centric venue than Mix is?

Ahh, business value.

Coffeehouse - Fred: You Voted, We Listened

RobertScoble — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:49:51 GMT

Heheh. Drat. Caught me!

Coffeehouse - Fred: You Voted, We Listened

RobertScoble — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:38:35 GMT

If I were Jeff and had to decide between say, me, and Fred, I'd choose Fred every time. He goes on CNBC and Wired has a lot more readers than anything I do.

That said, starting soon I'll be writing for Fast Company magazine. 700,000 circulation.

Coffeehouse - Fred: You Voted, We Listened

RobertScoble — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:37:14 GMT

That's for you guys to decide. I just remember helping out with a VSLive that Bill Gates was coming to. That was back in 1998. It was sold out just like Mix was (actually we had turned away more than 500 developers, if I remember right). Microsoft urged us to make more space available for press. We did, without getting developers who signed up kicked out. If I remember right we kicked out the Microsoft employees instead (and the staff members -- all of us had to watch the keynote from the lobby, where we set up big monitors to play the video from inside).

But, now that you've made it a public thing seems to me that you can't keep another developer from coming. That'd be worse PR than dissing Fred at this point.

A smart PR team would have kept enough seats open for last-minute PR requests, though. They always happen. Fred is hardly the only reporter to ask for a last-minute seat.

Coffeehouse - Fred: You Voted, We Listened

RobertScoble — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:11:04 GMT

How many people read Wired magazine again?

So, do you invite one developer? Great, that might mean one app.

Or do you invite a journalist who’ll write and talk with, say, 100 developers? (I have a feeling a lot more than 100 developers read Wired magazine).

Which one is a better decision for Microsoft as a business?

Which one is better for Microsoft’s ecosystem? How many apps will one decision get done over another?

I see at least four journalists who got invited to be on Microsoft’s stage. Why did they get invited over someone like Fred?

Oh, and if you think this is just about Wired magazine, Fred was on CNBC last week. So his reach is more than just Wired.

Coffeehouse - Channel9 video request... the new Community Server

RobertScoble — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 06:51:25 GMT

Nope, it wasn't. It is cool, though.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 16:53:24 GMT

Thanks dude, I really appreciate that. I'll buy the first round!

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:43:22 GMT

>Although I'm not arrogant enough to believe that either of you care in the least about my opinion.

I do care and, of course, you are right.

That said, it's hard to disengage.

I'll take your advice, though cause it's the most sound advice I've read here tonight.

Good night Rory.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:40:19 GMT

>If you don't think Podtech is in deep trouble, then maybe you should read http://www.neopoleon.com.There's this brilliant guy over there who thinks Podtech is in all kinds of trouble, and he's way smart, and he's way loud, so he must be right.

He's definitely way smart. Way smarter than me.

>You're such a baby.

You're right, I am. Why you having a conversation with a baby if you're a grown up?

>responding to me at length while making yourself look like a doofus

What's wrong with being a doofus? You made being a doofus cool and I just want to be like you.

>I'd rather eat poop than read your site

Is that supposed to be an insult? Damn, my 13-year-old can flame better than you.

>I'll see your generic, dull, limp comeback, and raise you something at least a little clever (I'll also type it with just my left pinkie to show off):"Won battle of words against Robert Scoble" isn't worthy of a raise at Microsoft - we only get rewarded for accomplishments.

Sorry, I only have 1/4th the IQ that you have. So, slow down a little as I struggle to keep up with your greatness.

>I heard what you did to your cameraman down in the valley (berating him in front of a bunch of bigwigs for his bad camera skills - yours aren't so hot, muchacho, and that's a pretty lame way of providing someone with feedback).

There were something like two people in the blog house at that time. Your boss being one of them. Agreed it was a lame way to provide feedback. He didn't leave cause of that, though. But, who cares about the truth when you have a good insult to make? Oh, wait a second, I thought THAT bothered YOU when I did it. Now I'm confused. Blame it on my slow brain again.

>Your "trashing" doesn't hurt. It's just reckless and selfish.

Oh, right. We're back to this line again. Damn it I want to keep the "most egotistical" award to myself, Rory. But you keep trying to grasp it out of my hands and put it on your own shelf. Grrrrr.

>First off, it's "ad hominem"

You HAD to pick on my misspelling, didn't you?

Like I said, I'm trying to keep up with someone who has 400% my intellect. Sometimes I'll make mistakes just trying to keep up.

>Um. Jeff likes you, which is more than I can say for the rest of the people around here (you should hear the jokes about your old office and how many articles/photos about/of yourself that you put on the walls - I love it).

Well, great, I have a bunch of backstabbers who won't even have the balls to tell me I'm an arrogant buttwipe to my face. At least with you I get the real deal. I'd much rather hang around someone who isn't nice when they are getting something from me, then stabbing me in the back as soon as I'm out of sight. Freaking just stick the damn knife in my chest when I'm in front of you.

But, that sure explains a WHOLE lot about the culture there that I don't even want to revisit. That explains a whole lot why so many smart people don't stick around.

Good luck with that. I bet they are doing the same thing with you. Wonder what kind of jokes they are making behind YOUR back?

Jeff, though, is a straight up guy. If he doesn't like you he'll tell you to your face. I appreciate that in someone.

> You don't... seriously expect me to sit down and watch 600 videos you made, do you?

Absolutely not. But, let's not go there since we're both in the content business and if no one watches our videos then we're out on the street. Better go watch some more of yours so I can learn how to do it right.

>When I say you ignored your guest, I mean to say just that - you ignored him.

Really? Wild. I'm so glad you know exactly what I was doing. You're telling me you can't look at your camera and pay attention to your guest too? Damn, I have only 1/4 your IQ and I can do that. Either way, you focused on, what, five seconds out of a 40-minute video? Out of 200 videos I've done?

Congratulations for finding a moment of stupidness in my videos. There's probably a few others, but then you'll have to watch.

>Your reputation as the most arrogant and narcissistic person any of us will ever meet is still firmly in place.

Whew! I thought it was in danger there for a minute.

>ever since last week, there's been a steady stream of people coming to me to tell me all about their favorite Robert-is-a-doofus moments

Great! If anyone who worked with me can't give you at least five then they didn't really work with me very long.

Hell, read my wife's blog and you'll see even more.

>You really have no idea what people really think of you.

I'm sure they think I'm an arrogant, stupid, doofus, if what you write is any indication.

But, if all of that is true, why you wasting your time telling someone who has 1/4 the IQ points of you that he's an arrogant, stupid, doofus?

And why am I bothering to listen to someone who listens to backstabbing coworkers?

I don't know, but I think it has to do with that cartoon that Ross loaded in the forum earlier this evening.

Say hi to your co-workers at Microsoft. You know the ones. They have patent cubes on their shelves.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 09:33:27 GMT

>Kinda reminds me of this argument for some reason.

How about this methane gas?

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 08:29:00 GMT

>But I believe something very similar to this "scheme" that's going on was tested out on Hotmail and a few other Microsoft/MSN-owned websites before being tried out on the general internet....and then dropping out completely.

Hmmm, the thing I saw today really doesn't have much to do with email/hotmail at all. So, that tells me we're seeing two separate things.

My mind races! Glad I'm going to Mix for sure now.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 06:48:43 GMT

>Well I was kinda with you for a while there Robert but the endless name-dropping weakens your argument and strengthens Rory's in my opinion.

Fair enough. In round 3.0 I'm sure I'll be merely competent at wordboxing with Rory instead of incompetent!

>And c'mon Zucker "the director of Airplane". That was years ago. Why not mention something more recent and hence more relevant like "Zucker, the director of Scary Movie 4 and Scary Movie 3". Well I think we both know the answer to that. It's called "marketing".

Oh, is "marketing" a bad word?

Robert

Coffeehouse - The REAL problem with Channel 9 these days...

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:46:35 GMT

>Keep on posting.

Damn you Charles, you always have to take the fun out of this!

Back to Twitter!

Heheh!

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:45:29 GMT

>And, if you don't think Podtech has deep problems, you should try reading that one little piece you wrote in which you talked about how tough it is to squeeze money out of video.

PodTech has millions of dollars in revenues and is just about a year old.

If bandwidth bills are a problem (they aren't) then we can always host our videos on YouTube or BlipTV (where video distribution is free).

Or, we could take any number of free solutions.

Your attacks demonstrate that you hate me, but not that you know anything about PodTech's business. It's a private business. Our profit or loss is between us and our VCs (two of the best in the business, USVP and VenRock). Not between you and me. We have about 30 corporate sponsors and have more work than we can shake a stick at.

If you want to worry about failed business ventures go look at Xbox or Windows Mobile. How many billions have been spent by Microsoft at those two? And you're trying to make a case about our bandwidth bills? Heheh. Yes, the other commenters are correct. Your attacks are funny!

>As for "those problems" - what are they? Could you list them? Could you give us solutions?

Yes. I have listed them many times in the past. Do you want to see the email discussions I had with Bill Gates and Steven Sinofsky? And the emails they sent back? Innovators' Dilemma. Read it.

>After our last exchange, a lot of people came up to me in various hallways at Microsoft and commented on how interesting it was to watch you freeze and stutter out irrelevant drivel each time I said something intelligent to you.

Yes, I know this is a popularity contest and people love it when someone attacking them gets attacked. So, you won a battle of words with me. Congratulations. I'll send you a prize. Make sure you mention that on your employee review, you'll get a raise!

>On top of it, you invented (and mastered) the "long-form" video, which no doubt costs much more to deliver than a "short-form" video (these silly terms are how I can tell you're a marketing doof at heart).

Actually, Justin.TV has taken long-form videos to a whole new art level and that dude is more popular than both of us put together. I predict he'll be on David Letterman within a week.

OK, so you don't like "long form." Maybe you would like Loren Feldman. He thinks my videos are long and boring and horrible.

Or maybe you're just angling for a job at PodTech (we hired Feldman AFTER he did that video bashing me).

>What is PodTech's Five Year plan?

To make great content. Period.

You might not have heard, but we've already spun out another company, called National Banana, which is working with Jerry Zucker (director of the movie "Airplane") where we're going to expand into Hollywood entertainment. Details are on CBS Marketwatch's site.

Yeah, Zucker does deals with failing companies, and losers. You might look into that again.

>Anybody can trash something (and Podtech is such an easy target that it worked well for the demonstration), but it takes a lot of work to be positive instead.

That's true. But, then, I've said plenty of nice things about Microsoft even since leaving Microsoft last year (including taking Microsoft's side in a debate in the New York Times against Dave Winer, and giving Microsoft a "demo of the year" award last year. Search Google for "demo of the year." What comes up first?)

The reason my trashing hurts is cause I said so many nice things about Microsoft over the years. And, I, unlike many other tech pundits and experts, have a raft of Microsoft's latest stuff. Media Center, Xbox, Vista, Office 2007.

>we have our best people working around the clock to figure out just what exactly it was you were trying to say

Easy: get rid of committees. Go see Steve Ball inside Microsoft and learn something about how they picked the four sounds everytime you startup Vista (they are the lamest sounds out of the whole group -- but were the "safest" picked by the committee). Ship something that isn't a copy of something else. Buy some best-of-breed companies. Do something interesting for the little guy. Improve your products so they are seen as best-of-breed and not just "me too" services that rely on your existing user base.

I can spell out more if you're really serious. But, the leadership there didn't listen much when I was there (to a whole raft of smart people, not just me). I notice that many of the smartest people I interviewed are now working somewhere other than Microsoft. Want a list?

> There are people on the other end of your attacks, you moron.

I've never called someone a moron. And, it's a rare day in Redmond when I take out an ad homimem knife the way you do. Glad to know you take the same medicine you dish out. Not.

>When I replied in your thread today, it was all about trying to show that, when you behave yourself, I'm willing to give you a Scooble Treat.

Yes. I live my life for those little "Rory Rewards." Yummy!

>You aren't qualified.

Did Jeff make you "God" of all things technical? Interesting. I hope you got a good bump in level and pay for that one!

>I'll check back later to see if you've written to tell me about how many feeds you watch, or about how I don't think Microsoft is in trouble (or whatever other words you'd like to put in my mouth).

I'm not putting any more words in your mouth. You seem to have plenty there yourself.

You attacked me last week, by the way, for pointing the camera at my face during the Zune video I did.

Yet you didn't go through and look at the 600 videos I did while at Microsoft. How many did I appear in? Very few. Maybe a handful. And, I've done more than 200 videos since I left Microsoft and you could only find ONE where I pointed the camera at my face? Damn, I'm so disappointed there weren't many more.

But then I happened across one of your videos from the MS TechFest. You pointed the camera at your face the entire time and, not only did you do that, but you talked to the camera and ignored your interviewee the whole time and didn't look at him. And you didn't point out the dozens of videos where I took the camera away from my face and more fully exposed my interviewee.

Damn, I don't want anyone to think that you're more arrogant or narcissistic than me (it's a tough job attacking multi-billion-dollar companies instead of a small year-old startup), but, you sure seem like you're trying to take the top of that mighty mountain away from me. Do you really want to be known as more arrogant or narcissistic than Scoble? Yeah, that'll get you brownie points in building 18. Not.

Mr. Jay is correct, though. I didn't used to like you either but after getting attacked by you over the past week I've come to enjoy you and your skills.

Coffeehouse - The REAL problem with Channel 9 these days...

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:35:46 GMT

I'm leaving!

Not.

Hey, maybe THAT will create more drama!

Moooooommmmmmmyyyyyyyy Rory started it!

Did not.

Did to!

Did not!

Did to!

...

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 05:28:07 GMT

>Podtech is the next Google, and I know no hubris

Absolutely! My hubris is bigger than your hubris!

Rory, stay away from my hubris.

Ahh, this is almost as much fun as Twitter!

Almost.

Oh, and Rory, can you whip up some scrambled eggs for me since you know you're better than me at running the kitchen? Thanks!

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 04:31:32 GMT

Dimmy Joolittle wrote:

Why are Microsoft employees fighting on a public forum? How weird.

I haven't been a Microsoft employee since July of 2006.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:56:25 GMT

>As you know, PDC is about potential future.

Of course, but Mix is sorta the same thing. It's about a potential future. The future IS on the Internet. That's why I've been poking Microsoft so hard for not having a good strategy.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:52:57 GMT

>It won't be an empty keynote

I hope not, but Ray is adept at giving speeches where he doesn't really say anything. He did one about a month ago in Silicon Valley.

Coffeehouse - Mix07 is going to be interesting

RobertScoble — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 02:47:41 GMT

>Obviously, nobody talks about technologies that aren't ready to be disclosed publicly.

You forget PDC 2003. In hindsight those technologies (WinFS, which was later killed). And others, were discussed. Oh, and the PDC in 2001 where Hailstorm was discussed. In hindsight if Microsoft had kept developing Hailstorm (with a freaking better name) it might have had a great answer to Amazon's S3, which is taking the startup world by storm right now.

Robert Scoble