Evidence in Australia that Apple’s vision for the iPod exceeds its primary use as a portable music device: ARN reports that mass merchants have entered the picture to help push the device further out into the PC-dominated world. The switch campaign continues…

Computerworld Australia’s senior reporter Julian Bajkowski has taken time out from filing copy to produce a spirited, lengthy, and amusing defence to claims by Sun’s Simon Phipps that he was “misquoted” while touring Australia recently. Robert Scoble also referenced Phipps’s post.

Simon first published his response to the Computerworld article on his blog, so (currently blogless) Julian took up my offer to use filtered as vehicle to respond in the blogosphere:

Say what you mean and mean what you say
By Julian Bajkowski

It’s always rewarding to get feedback from those who you write about and last week has proved more rewarding than most.

This week, with the invaluable assistance of Sun and Microsoft, I have both invented a time machine and apparently rewritten the economic history of the first wave of the industrial revolution. And all because of one word: Luddite.

The fun started when a press release heralding the speaking talents of Sun’s leading evangelist Simon Phipps landed in my in-box courtesy of the Distributed Systems Technology Centre (DTSC). I’ve seen Simon speak before and he is often as witty as he is candid when it comes to putting his ideas forward.

Simon’s views can make a refreshing break from the acres of vendor sales drivel farmed out by their small army of publicists competing for column inches. He has a great mind, sharp wit and does not shy away from controversy.

Seeing as Simon was about to speak at a seminar hosted by DSTC in the glimmering metropolis of what locals call Bris-Vegas (Brisbane), I figured the collected thoughts of Mr Phipps may interest some of our readers. Subsequently, I made the call that it was better to get the story out sooner rather than later so that people could go and see Phipps if they wanted to.

In the media business, this is called currency. There is little point in telling people that they missed something worth seeing. This is why organizations, including DSTC, issue media releases.

The release plugging Simon’s tour de force for the next couple of days so I filed the yarn that afternoon whilst he was en-route to Brisbane. In such circumstances, you run with what you have and update or follow up as necessary.

A copy of the DSTC Media Release is here.

[Note: I've selected a few choice quotes below - MJ]

Brisbane, Australia, 22 March 2004, for immediate release. According to Simon Phipps, Chief Technical Technology Evangelist for Sun Microsystems, the trend to open source methodology is an inevitable consequence of societal changes wrought by the Internet.

“The luddites fighting the move to open source are certain to be defeated,” says Phipps. “Sure, different parts of the software market may move to open source at different speeds but the move is an inevitable societal trend.”

…

“Sun is probably doing more with open source software than any other major computer company” says Phipps.

“In fact Sun used an open source-like model for business success when it was founded in the 1980s, and is still pioneering with the introduction of the Java Desktop System, a desktop environment that combines Linux and the best of open source software to deliver a full featured low cost alternative to the current market leader.”

…

Now to me this looks like, smells like, and walks like the good old fashioned, tub-thumping fire and brimstone marketing we used to get before everything was sanitized by the PR industry. It also comes from one of Sun’s renowned performers – the sort who hugs his commercial nemesis on stage to add colour, life and a little mischief to tech heavy shindigs like DSTC conferences. So I figure Simon’s having some fun – he’s a fun guy.

While no vendor names other than Sun are mentioned, for all intents and purposes the release resembles what those of us in the press refer too as a “pot stirrer”. We journos love pot stirrers because they give our readers something interesting and colourful to read about. And this doozey comes from one of the industry’s finest.

Nowhere does the release carry any reference to the term “Luddite” in its context as purely reference to saboteurs of centuries past, nor any reference to guild halls. Rather we have: “The luddites fighting the move to open source are certain to be defeated.”

Hmmmm, one wonders who that could possibly be? IBM…nuh. Novell…nuh. Perhaps PeopleSoft or Oracle… doesn’t quite fit. Now I wonder who has a vested interest in fighting Open Source and Linux?

Now at this stage I readily admit to making a pre-supposition. It looks like Phipps and Sun are blatantly goading their competition. There are not that many major IT vendors openly bagging open source, so I call obvious suspect Microsoft and try to get a rise out of them. Sorry, I call to allow them to have a right of reply.

This is actually far harder than it sounds as Microsoft has for many years subscribed to having a singular message and that message only, otherwise it’s no comment.

They give me a modified version of the single message: more metrics on TCO and less rhetoric, much in-line with their current Linux cum Open Source counter offensive. Just another day I think and curse that Phipps is in Brisbane and I’m in Sydney and I am so strapped for time.

Soon after, a colleague at a competing publication sends me this and Simon’s blog:
“Hi julian, not sure if you saw this but seems like phipps was unaware of the dstc release. Cheers”

I read Simon’s blog and discover I’ve got it all horribly wrong and he’s actually not goading the opposition but lecturing on technology and its context in economic history. He’s also upset about the state of the time and space continuum.

“If only the journalist in question had come to the lecture instead of just citing the quotation from his invitation…”

Sorry mate, it was press release selling your appearance in person, issued and written up ahead of time to alert people of your impending arrival in the antipodes.

“…(the story seems to have been filed before I started speaking and when I asked if there were journalists present no-one identified themselves, so it’s a fair guess these stones have been thrown from safe isolation)…”

What can I say? We hacks are practitioners of the dark arts and move time through black magic.

“…he would have found out that ‘luddite’ here was being used in the context of a historical discussion about means of production. “

I’m currently reviewing the SLA for our CrystalBall license. Its performance sometimes varies according to what it’s fed. Note to self: always check the list of ingredients against what is contained in the packet even if guaranteed by manufacturer.

And then there was this post from Microsoft’s Robert Scoble on his blog Scobleizer.

“Simon says he was misquoted Simon Phipps, evangelist at Sun Microsystems, shows why those of us who talk with the press need weblogs: he says he was misquoted. Actually, it’s worse than that. He claims that the journalist who quoted him wasn’t even in the room.”

Well, not quite misquoted. Misinterpreted perhaps, even taken out of context. Nowhere does Phipps point the accusatory finger saying that I put words into his mouth that he never uttered. And in these days of real time video, pre-penned press release and the humble telephone you don’t actually need to be in the same room to get the gist of what someone says – that’s what technology does best.

I could say it’s easy to shoot the messenger. I could say what I wrote was taken out of context. But let me extend my virtual tuck-shop arms across the globe, give you both a big group hug and propose a toast to those who are willing to share their views with the world without hiding behind their lawyers and PR minders.

Microsoft Australia’s Frank Arrigo points at media coverage of an upcoming Mobile Developers Conference.

Australian developers are promised they can get their hands on a copy of Microsoft’s Visual Studio in April, according to ZDNet.

Here’s Frank’s overview of the conference agenda.

It’s interesting because mobile application development is the next great IT gold rush as far as I’m concerned. Execs and consumers of all types now demand access to a wide range of applications, data and services. The era of non-mobile computing is well and truly over, and it’s up to .Net, Java and open source developers to carry the torch.

I’m getting ready for the 3hr drive down to Canberra today. CIO Magazine’s CIO Converge Autumn 2004 Government conference kicks off tomorrow at the Hyatt.

One of the guest speakers is Andrew White, President and COO of IT World Canada. I just met Andy this morning at the office, and judging by a few his comments he should deliver an interesting speech about Canada’s e-Government initiatives. Like all Governments, the left foot rarely knows what the right foot is doing where IT is concerned. Enter publishers like Andy who can build the neutral political platform where conversations can begin.

Stay tuned for more. If I can get a decent connection to the Net at the Hyatt I’ll post a few notes.

Big news on the mobile Wi-Fi front. Boeing has announced plans & pricing for Wi-Fi during flights. At around US$30 for the duration of a long haul flight, I think you’ll get plenty of takers. Plenty of coverage in Google News.

InfoWorld columnist Jon Udell has written a comprehensive piece about the synergies between his blog and print editorial.

It’s a must-read for journos, publishers, PRs, marketers and anyone interested in how the blog and journalism worlds have meshed to create a larger whole that’s deeper than anyone ever imagined.

So the EU slaps Microsoft and it coughs up a few million measly bucks in response. Uh huh.

What’s more interesting is that the EU has decided that enough is enough. A telling quote from this Mercury News story:

“Microsoft sells to 300 million European consumers,” said [Andrew Gavil, a law professor at Howard University]. “It’s ludicrous to suggest the Europeans don’t have a say in how they market things.”

I’m just back from Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art where I was one of the presenters at an event called “Unwired Success.” Hosted by Salesforce.com, Telstra & Intel, the breakfast seminar was designed to help sales & marketing execs understand how to take advantage of wireless.

Interestingly enough (err, actually, I was stunned), it seems that while wireless technology and hotspot use is skyrocketing in the Asia/Pacific region, plenty of sales types are not familiar with many wireless “basics” I thought were assumed knowledge. For example, one guy asked me what hotspots were and what “Wi-Fi” meant. Wow.

Audience questions during the panel were predominantly about security and integration (both issues are largely resolved, we assured them), and others I spoke to were concerned about wireless costs. For example, $0.75 per MMS message is unsustainable for most companies.

Anyway, the gist of my talk (here’s the PPT that contains local market stats etc. It’s 3837KB. Download file) was that I believe we’re at a point in time where we have the wireless networks, devices and applications to make the wireless computing experience closely mirror the office computing experience. There are of course plenty of issues to resolve, like Wi-Fi roaming & the cost of wirelessly enabling the sales force. But the industry is getting there – WiMax is the latest innovation buzzword, for example.

So at the end fo the morning, we had around 160 to 170 people sitting down for the event (which IDG helped market). I’d call that a success.

Knowledge management is something of a buzzword around the IDG corridors at the moment. Oddly enough, I’ve also seen a few articles on Wiki’s lately (they are online collaboration tool of sorts). Most recent was this Economist piece about Socialtext. I’ve been watching Socialtext from afar for some time now, but yesterday decided to take them up on the 30 day trial. That’s right, I’m taking a geek’s approach and throwing technology at the problem. I wonder how well this can be adapted to a publishing environment like IDG?

Stay tuned & I’ll let you know how the experiment progresses (so far it’s taken them one day to send me a password etc. after completing the online rego, which is ok given the fact the Pacific Ocean is btw here and Calif.).

Meanwhile, let me know about your experience with Wiki’s?

Ok, so I might be a little late, but I’ve rediscovered Andrew Denton. Before I left for the US some three years ago, Denton was one of the funnier guys on radio. He’s also been around the Australia media & entertainment circles for years. His latest latest effort on ABC TV is Enough Rope (plently of transcripts at the site, btw).

On last night’s show he interviewed Steve & Terri Irwin (+ a cameo from baby Bob), and Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir. Mir has interviewed Osama bin Laden three times over the years, and his insights into the mind of the world’s most wanted man were intriguing (eg. bin Laden has been eating lots of olives because he wants to make his four wives pregnant).

The Croc Hunter interview was also very watchable. Terri is actually a funny woman, and Steve actually had valid reasons (in his mind) for doing that how croc feeding thing with Bob.

So Denton seems like he’s on a roll. He’s generating a ton of news coverage from his bin Laden, Lisa Marie and Irwin interviews, and the show’s refreshingly amusing. And what’s more, since it’s the ABC you get a full hour of entertainment, news, and very skillful interviewing with no ads. Now there’s a novel idea.