Open Letter to Dave McClure: “Where are the open social networking panels at Web 2.0 & Social Graphing?”
I included Dave McClure in my post on Facebook’s close platform - and he commented back, asking me to do my research.
So I did.
I looked at the agendas of the two conferences where Dave either has founded and/or Chairs and is intimately involved in. What I was looking for was evidence of Dave ‘helping us out’- participating in the process of educating and moving the world forward towards open social networking and open standards.
Web 2.0 Expo
- Has the obligatory session by David Recordon - one of the creators of OpenID. That’s great and important. David is a concise and articulate speaker.
- That’s it. No session on OpenSocial (Oh that’s right - Google isn’t a sponsor.) Nothing on User’s rights, new EULAs, privacy concerns, interoperability or DataPortability - nothing.
- This is a conference that features - over 50 sessions. I guess letting David Recordon give his OpenID rap is enough. Huh?
- Of course they’ll have a Web2Open kind of a diversionary tactic - so they can claim that the ‘Citizens’ are involved - but I don’t buy that bullshit.
- This is a conference entirely designed to exploit and monetize the trademark that O’Reilly has over the term ‘Web 2.0′. Lots of exhibitors, 30,000 sq ft of trade show space.
- And Dave McClure is listed as one of a conference Co-Chairs.
Graphing Social Patterns
Then there’s the conference which Dave founded - Graphing Social Patterns (great name BTW!) He’s listed as the conference chair - and after close examination Ive found the ONLY panel I’d bother to go see - featuring Dan Farber - who is one of the only journalists in our industry with any integrity and experience.
Dan will hopefully blow away the smoke surrounding the DataPortability effort and find some meat to talk about. That won’t be hard, as OpenSocial ‘containers’ will be given plenty of chance to turn on their FUD machiens and ignore all the important issues.
I’m hoping Dan will bring some light to a dark scenario - where money and exploitation ring more important then user’s rights and open social networking. Oh yah, in typical fashion - the only good panel is left til the end of the day, when everyone has either gone home or is exhausted. That happens all the time.
And as far as Patrick Chanezon’s session on OpenSocial - from earlier OpenSocial sessions I’ve been to or heard about Google ignores the fact that there is no real commitment from any vendor to allow access to anything - except to perpetuate more closed ‘widget platforms’. Its amazing to me that something called ‘Open’ can be so closed. And nobody bitches about it. Certainly NOT Dave McClure!
Steve Gillmor is asking Google to give us a reason why they’re wholesale exploiting GMail contacts - before he’d ever believe them about OpenSocial and I wanna know the specific policies regarding access to social graphs from OpenSocial containers.
But do you think Google will answer these questions?
Why don’t they just call it OpenGadget - or even better ‘ClosedGadget’ - cause where’s the open? Where are the commitments from ‘containers’ to allow controlled access to these social graphs?
What I’m talking about here are the policies of MySpace, Bebo, hi5, Friendster. They have 100,000,000s of users locked up in their platforms - and what are their policies (vis a vis support for OpenSocial) in regards to letting their users export their profiles and social graphs? Yes or No?
There are plenty of opportunities to have engaging discussions at a conference such as ‘Graphing Social Patterns’ - but I don’t see any interest or desire on the side of Dave McClure to cause that to happen. He seems interested in teh topics of monetizing people, getting funded and selling out. And one thing I can tell you - I won’t be there to call him on this bullshit.
I’m also particularly interested in the EFF Awards - cause I don’t see them talking about data portability, interoperability, privacy rights, user’s rights to their data, etc. I often wondered where the EFF is in all this?
So I have little faith that anything substantive will get covered at any of these sessions at these conferences (and the same at SXSW for that matter.) It seems that fiefdoms, power games and exclusionary politics are the buzzword du jour in this space. And why not? There’s MONEY to be made - right?
Lets all go off, start a movement, trademark the term and then you can have a conference of your OWN! Youc na convince analysts to track you, VCs to start funds and maybe one day - you can retire and become a VC yourself (liek Dave McClure.) Oh Goodey.
So in repsonse to Dave asking me to do some research - I have Dave - and I’m still convinced you aren’t necessarily helping us in our fight, that you’re profiting and exploiting the situation and…..
Well that’s it - I guess.
Business as usual.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Marc, I’m also putting together a panel on the various widget platforms where I’ll have developers who are working with Facebook, OpenSocial, and NetVibes. http://en.oreilly.com/webexsf2008/public/schedule/detail/1800
Also considering that only one workshop is currently listed, I doubt the entire schedule is posted for Web 2.0 Expo yet.
http://en.oreilly.com/webexsf2008/public/schedule/presentations/Workshop
January 28th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
ok, Mark — i’m really tired of this shit & your character assassination jihad.
i was relatively subdued in response to your cockamamie assertions of me somehow using my position with O’Reilly to either a) provide unfair advantage for companies i invest in (WRONG, most of them aren’t based on Facebook), or b) prioritizing money-making over innovation (ALSO WRONG, i can think of about a MILLION jobs where i could make a shitload more money than i am right now… none of which require me to take this kind of crap).
if you are somehow pissed off that i haven’t selected the talks you’d like to hear about — or perhaps, that i haven’t invited YOU to speak? — then goddammit, why don’t you just put together YOUR OWN CONFERENCE and feature the speakers you want to hear about?!? light a candle fer chrissakes, instead of railing against the “darkness”.
as to “helping us in our fight”… i don’t know who “our” is, but i do know that you have no problem monopolizing the microphone at most every opportunity to talk about what YOU think YOUR individual perspectives are on these issues. while i won’t deny your right to free speech, you’ve CERTAINLY exhausted the limit of your right to pedantic, repetitive & annoying speech. other people are entitled to have their say TOO.
MARC: there are MILLIONS of people using Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Hi5, LinkedIn, and other platforms. there are MILLIONS of people using widgets by Slide, RockYou, Clearspring, and others. THOSE are the subjects i’ve chosen to put together on the show… topics & technology that are being used by customers who have voted with their feet. I’ve also worked hard to get interesting startups & app developers on the panel who are respected by the community.
Just because YOU think that open data portability is an important issue doesn’t mean that EVERYONE does. and while i agree with you it’s a relevant topic for discussion — WHICH IS WHY I PUT ONE SUCH PANEL ON THE AGENDA — that does NOT mean there needs to be 5 different panels on the topic. your opinion does not necessarily represent the majority… in fact, i’d daresay you are a very vocal minority.
finally, while i have no problem with arguing the merits of the case, i’d request you keep any accusations about my desire for money or positions of authority out of the argument. i ain’t gettin’ rich running conferences, i’m a renter in Silicon Valley, and i teach at Stanford for free about social apps & platforms because i think it’s an interesting subject. as far as i’m aware, you’ve made & lost many more millions than i ever had. i made a rather small amount of money working at PayPal, and i’ve put more than half of it back into startups that i believe in. if i wanted to make money, there’s no way in hell i’d be sticking my neck out on this crap.
profiting & exploiting the situation for a buck? give me a fucking break.
i’m so angry right now i can’t even type.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Hey Marc,
I don’t know you but I just want to say that I don’t know anyone else in the Valley that wants to help out the little guy as much as Dave does. His Stanford course alone is a testament to that, where he helped a bunch of students launch companies or products that will generate them money, without him taking a dime. He is also accessible to everyone who wants advice or is trying to break into the Valley like I was a year ago. I’d easily say he’s one of the nicest people I’ve met out here so far. You’re entitled to your opinion, but I don’t think Dave has any kind of hidden agenda.
Thanks,
Jason
January 28th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
[...] precisely as Marc says, it’s “Business as Usual.” It’s a good thing too, otherwise Data Portability will never be broadly adopted by [...]
January 29th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Marc,
I really think you’ve overstepped the line of civil conversations and are making some unjust stabs at Dave. I agree with many of the points you’ve made, but not everything is a conspiracy, not everyone is out to get you or smash the movement, not everyone is trying to stop your passions.
It’s one thing to stand up for your beliefs in openness, data portability and power to the people, but it’s a completely different ballgame when you make some hard personal accusations.
I hope you reconsider some of the things you’ve wrote (especially about Dave) and look at it from another perspective. Having spent time with him and you separately, I couldn’t call either of you devious, or trying to work the system.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:28 am
hey marc,
i gotta echo jeremiah’s comments here. most of what i see dave doing is this area i’d almost term “near pro-bono”, and where your interests diverge he’s entitled to this much as you’re entitled to your interests both social and economic. we’re all just trying to find our way in this new world and the fact that dave’s interests are convergent w/others’ that choose not to share yours, does not make dave a bad guy.
as jeremiah said, i also know where you’re coming from and agree directionally, but consider voicing these opinions in ways to attract rather than attack other individuals trying to do their best. i can see why dave is upset and concur that had these words been written about me after all the selfless work i had put in (as dave has…he didn’t need to throw 2 back-to-back evening events to showcase his students for free w/an attendance that exceeded all expectations, but he did it anyways), I’d be pissed too.
we like both of you guys, and believe in what you’re both doing, so let’s try move through these issues productively. btw, you’re economic & social interests are not directly aligned, so understand that the divergence of the activities you support is to be expected.
February 6th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
true P-Air. thanks