2009
- To launch a new entrepreneurial venture, often with the backing of the parent firm or organization;
- To assist in the evaluation of potential investments where the entrepreneur has a particular expertise; or
- To provide functional expertise to assist with an existing investment.
I’m trying to suck all of my Tweets off of Twitter and there seems to only be 3,200 tweets. However, Twitter says on my profile page I have tweeted 4,237 times. Where are the other 1,037 tweets? Reason #75 why hosted services don’t deserve our content.
Dropping the www
I’ve debated this many times, but finally decided to pull the trigger and remove the “www.” prefix from my website. This really isn’t anything that anybody need worry about. You will be redirected as appropriate to the right spot. I’ve been hesitant to drop the www because the search engines see it as www.thingelstad.com, not thingelstad.com. However, Google Webmaster tools seems to make this an easy change.
So, away with the “www.”
“Blue jeans are the Photoshop CS4 of good looks.”
My Solution for Microsoft to Get Nerds Back
I was catching up on my Daring Fireball feed today and saw that John Gruber had put together a longer post on Microsoft’s earnings shortfall. It’s a worthwhile read, and I think that Gruber is correct in suggesting that Microsoft has begun a very difficult time and is going to be there for a while.
Today that is simply no longer the case. Microsoft has lost all but a sliver of this entire market. People who love computers overwhelmingly prefer to use a Mac today. Microsoft’s core problem is that they have lost the hearts of computer enthusiasts. (Emphasis mine) Regular people don’t think about their choice of computer platform in detail and with passion like nerds do because, duh, they are not nerds. But nerds are leading indicators.
Now, let me be particularly cautious here. This is combustible territory I realize. A couple of months ago I was asked by a couple of people for my opinion of what Microsoft should do to change direction. After considering it for a while I came up with a simple two step plan that would make me think that something big had happened at Microsoft.
Neither of these two steps I’m going to suggest are things that average consumers would notice, or even really care about. My point, agreeing with Gruber, is to do something that will get the nerds to take notice. However, before proceeding, let me come clean that I have been a huge Microsoft advocate. MarketWatch.com is one of the largest financial websites on the Internet, and is entirely built on Windows technology. I’ve advocated with people the benefits of Windows development environments. I’ve even been quoted in Microsoft case studies. With all that said, I can’t imagine using Windows in a new company, and I haven’t seen an early stage company using Windows for years now.
Unix Has Won
My first suggestion for Microsoft is to wave the white flag on the NT kernel. Dump it. Dump it and replace it with a Linux, BSD, Mach or other Unix-type kernel. I’m not going to get into arguments about the benefits of the NT kernel and its VMS lineage. This isn’t a point of threading models or memory management. My point is both a technical and cultural one. It seems unnecessary to continue to shoulder the burden of the NT kernel. Move to an open-source Linux kernel and stop carrying all the water yourself.
What happens with Windows? Not much for the user. Microsoft should do what Apple did when it made Mac OS X. Wholesale change the kernel but keep the user experience pretty much the same. The engine is new and different, but users don’t need to know that. Meanwhile, the nerds of the world can enjoy a native shell with the thousands of Unix executables available native on the platform.
If you’re saying to yourself “Jamie, the kernel is not Microsoft’s problem!” you are likely right. I’m not suggesting that blue screens of death are regular and that the kernel is broken. I’m suggesting that Microsoft needs to adopt a new culture, a new perspective on software. They need to force themselves onto a new path that acknowledges what has happened in the open-source world for the last 20 years. Adopting an open-source Unix style kernel would send a very clear, and very loud message that things have changed. That the future is going to be different. A new path is being broken.
Stop Fighting the Web Browsers
My second suggestion rings similar to the first, but is in a different area. I’m not going to suggest that Microsoft should abandon Internet Explorer. They can and should do what they can to make a great browser that works amazingly in Windows. Internet Explorer should be that. However, they should immediately ditch the rendering engine in IE and move to one of the open-source ones. WebKit, Gecko, anything other than Trident (or MSHTML).
The nerds of the world, the ones that build the websites that everyone uses, know intimately how bad Internet Explorer is. At this point, IE’s lack of compliance and its adoption of web standards is so poor that I would argue they are impeding the progress of the web. Ask any web developer and they will tell you how they could make amazingly better sites if only they could rely on the major browsers to behave well. By and large Firefox (Gecko), Safari (WebKit), Chrome (WebKit) all do. Even Opera (Presto). But Internet Explorer? No way. Microsoft has created a problem for everyone else, and they need to fix it.
Again, changing the rendering engine won’t be noticeable to most people (although when sites work better and load faster they will notice that). This is another move that would signal to the leading part of the technology market, that Microsoft “gets it”. That they have woken from a long slumber and are going to do it right now.
Two Steps, That’s it…
With those two moves Microsoft could wake me up, and I think a lot of other people too. They would embrace the open-source movement. They would stop positioning themselves as them against everyone else in the entire world. And, on top of it they could save money by owning the maintenance of less software, and they would have products that worked better.
Of course, I doubt these things would ever happen. But then again, I also didn’t think Macs would ever have 2-button mice or use Intel chips, and that all came true. Microsoft isn’t a bad company, and they aren’t going away. But they do need to recapture the hearts of people who are passionate about this stuff. This is my recommendation for how they can do that.
Apple’s Two Steps
Friends that have known me for a very long time know that I used to be a Mac guy for many years, and I gave up on Apple completely. I was a Mac user on System 5, System 6 and System 7. I really loved my Macs. But, I bid the platform farewell after experiencing one too many operating system failures. I never looked back and used Windows NT and it’s follow-on versions for a many, many years.
A couple of years ago I converted every computer in the house back to Macs and that is pretty much all I use now. What made me come back? Two things.
First, Apple bought NeXT computer and adopted it’s Mach-based kernel and underlying operating system. They didn’t change the user experience in a major way, but underneath it was all different. A real operating system, that didn’t crash.
The second change was to abandon the Motorola PowerPC processor. Intel was clearly the way to go, but it seemed unlikely that they ever would.
I bought my first Mac again when Mac OS X 10.3 was out. It was still on the Motorola chip, but I took a flyer. Shortly thereafter they moved to Intel chip and I’ve not looked back.
My point in telling this is to highlight how, for me at least, these two changes made all the difference in the world. Perhaps the two changes I’ve outlined above could do the same for Microsoft.
Entrepreneur in Residence at Split Rock Partners
Earlier this week Split Rock Partners did a press release regarding my entrepreneur in residence (EIR) with the firm. The first question friends of mine have asked is “What exactly is an entrepreneur in residence?” Wikipedia highlights an EIR as:
The EIR role is often designed to fill one of three primary functions:
That is a great recap of what I will be doing with Split Rock. The partners have given me a place to office and the opportunity to get and give early feedback around potential business ventures.
A couple of other items about EIR roles. There are other “in residence"programs. For example, artist in residence seems to be a fairly well established. I’ve also seen writer in residence as well as journalist in residence pop up. Lastly, just to be clear, the EIR role is a partnership. I’m not an employee at the firm, and this isn’t a “job”. It is a formal collaboration and a vehicle for us to work together.
I am excited to work with the partners at Split Rock and will make the most of such a unique opportunity!
Jamie Thingelstad joins Split Rock Partners as an Entrepreneur in Residence
Former Dow Jones executive will focus on emerging opportunities in digital media
Minneapolis, MN, July 27 – Split Rock Partners, a venture capital firm focused on emerging software and internet services companies, is pleased to announce that Jamie Thingelstad, former Vice President, Chief Technology Officer of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, the consumer division of Dow Jones & Company and Chief Technology Officer of MarketWatch, Inc., is affiliated with the firm as an Entrepreneur in Residence (“EIR”).
Mr. Thingelstad was founding Chief Technology Officer of BigCharts, Inc. through its acquisition by MarketWatch in 1999. BigCharts was a pioneer in delivering real-time financial information via the web, and provided financial tools offered by the majority of top financial services firms at the time of the acquisition.
MarketWatch was subsequently acquired by Dow Jones, and Mr. Thingelstad continued to take on progressively larger responsibilities within the Dow Jones organization. In his last role, he served as Chief Technology Officer of the Wall Street Journal Digital Network, a leading provider of financial and investment news through sites sites such as the Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and Barrons. During his tenure, the network properties grew substantially in audience, and introduced several new product offerings. Prior to that Mr. Thingelstad was Chief Technology Officer for the Enterprise Media Group of Dow Jones where he oversaw the development efforts for Dow Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Indexes and other business services offered by the company.
“Jamie is an accomplished entrepreneur and brings great insight into the intersection of the internet, new media, and the implications for next-generation business models,” said Michael Gorman, a Managing Director at Split Rock Partners. “As a pioneer in digital media, he is intimately familiar with the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the convergence of new technologies, consumer behavior, advertiser objectives and industry economics. We look forward to applying his insights to the process of identifying the most promising opportunities taking advantage of these dynamic trends.”
As an EIR with Split Rock Partners, Mr. Thingelstad will be evaluating opportunities defining the next generation of digital media, the increasing opportunities in social applications on the web as well as the continuous evolution of the web as a platform.
“I am excited to explore how new technologies can build upon the foundation of traditional media, while creating new opportunities to meet the needs of consumers and businesses in unanticipated ways,” said Mr. Thingelstad. “We are still at an early stage in the transformation of digital content production, delivery and consumption, and in that transformation lies opportunity. I am pleased to partner with the Split Rock team given their track record of partnering with entrepreneurs to translate the potential of breakthrough ideas into leading companies.”
About Split Rock PartnersSplit Rock Partners, with offices in Minneapolis and Menlo Park, seeks emerging opportunities in healthcare, software, and Internet services primarily in the Upper Midwest and West Coast. Split Rock was formed in June 2004 by the teams responsible for healthcare, software and Internet services investments for St. Paul Venture Capital (SPVC) and continues to manage SPVC’s portfolio in those sectors. Split Rock closed a $275 million inaugural fund in April of 2005, and a $300 million second fund in May, 2008. Representative companies backed by Split Rock’s team include Atritech, Disc Dynamics, EBR, eBureau, Entellus, Evalve, Gearworks, Internet Broadcasting, HireRight, LowerMyBills.com, MyNewPlace, QuinStreet, and Tornier. Additional information about the firm can be found at www.splitrock.com.
Waiting for Coldplay to take the stage at Alpine Valley!
Tron Legacy in 2010
This is a couple of minute preview from the upcoming Tron
Legacy to be
released in 2010, released
today. It’s a great clip.
I watched this preview in awe. I was one of the kids that saw Tron when I was just 10 years old and was amazed by it. It reinforced my amazement with the computers. I may have even thrown glow-in-the-dark frisbees at friends of mine in the middle of the night, pretending we were in the disc war game of Tron. Maybe.
I can’t wait to see this new one.
Self-help Books That Will Actually Work.
Away We Go — fun movie, puts a smile on your face.
Bistecca alla Fiorentina on the Big Green Egg.
This is a good example of what a Big Green Egg looks like when it’s full blast, north of 700 °F. And it can get hotter!
Pork shoulder on the Big Green Egg.
After 10 hours.
Grilled artichokes!
Two pork shoulders to go on the Big Green Egg tomorrow at 7am!
Joining the Board of CaringBridge
I’m very late in sharing this news. Starting at the beginning of this year I was asked to join the board of directors at CaringBridge. I’ve been hoping to find a non-profit that fit well with my background, and CaringBridge was perfect. I’ve been very impressed learning more about CaringBridge and the amazing and wonderful relationships that they enable.
Unfamiliar with CaringBridge?
CaringBridge® offers free, personalized websites that allow people to stay in touch with family and friends during a health crisis, treatment and recovery. The goal of the service is to ease the burden of keeping friends and family updated, while also providing a way for them to send their love, support and encouragement.
I’ve found that an amazing number of my friends have used CaringBridge in one way or another. They have done amazing work thus far and I’m hoping I can help continue that! If you have a CaringBridge story or comment I’d love to hear it!
Fancy Email Signatures with hCard Microformat
I recently redid my email signature. I’ve been using an HTML signature for a while and my friend Kent complained to me one day that my emails always wrap odd on the iPhone. I figured out that I had an HTML element with a minimum width around 300 pixels. Fine for a computer, but it made the iPhone mail program scroll - in the worst way possible - horizontally.
I figured since I was going to redo it I would simplify, but also wanted to add some function. So, I decided to make use the hCard microformat in the signature. It wasn’t too hard to get right, and it looks normal when viewed but an hCard aware client would see the data markup.
<div style="width: 100%; margin: 14pt 0px; padding: 2px; border-top: 1px #dddddd dashed; font-family: Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; color: black;" id="hcard-Jamie-Thingelstad-Personal" class="vcard">
<a style="white-space: nowrap; font-weight: bold;" href="/" class="url fn">Jamie Thingelstad</a>
<div><a href="mailto:jamie@thingelstad.com" class="email">jamie@thingelstad.com</a></div>
<div style="white-space: nowrap;" class="tel">mobile: <span class="value">612-810-3699</span></div>
<div>find me on <a href="aim:addbuddy?screenname=jthingelstad" class="url">AIM</a> <a href="http://twitter.com/thingles" class="url">Twitter</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thingles" class="url">Facebook</a> <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/jthingelstad" class="url">LinkedIn</a></div>
</div>
I found two tools that helped with this a lot. There is an hCard creator that helped with figuring out what the structure should look like, and very importantly an hCard validator that you can pass a code fragment into and it validates and decodes it.
With all that said, I don’t think there is a single email client that will honor hCard. But, if one comes along I’m ready.
Burger Jones First Impression
Tammy, Mazie and I joined my sister-in-law Angie, Mazie’s cousin Nora and Grandma Olson for lunch at Burger Jones today. We’d been meaning to try out Burger Jones since before it even opened and this was our first opportunity.
First impression was good, but unfortunately the whole experience just stayed there at just good. I got a burger because, hey, you’re at Burger Jones. I ordered the burger medium, but it came well without any pink at all. It was a pretty uninspiring burger and I would take a burger of my own off of the Big Green Egg most any day. We also tried the cheese curds as they were supposed to be very good. They were pretty good, when they had cheese in them. The way they were prepared made a lot of the cheese come out of the breading. Mazie and I decided to give the Nutella Malt a try and it was good, but how can you do a malt wrong. Lastly everyone split the stack of fries trying the regular fries, sweet potato fries (my absolute favorite) and waffle-cheese fry. The sweet potato fries seemed like they came right off of a Sysco truck and into a fryer. Another yawn.
For the cost, I would have expected something better. It was all fine, and everyone left happy, but there wasn’t anything about the food that left me wanting to return quickly.
