RuadhanMc

The idea of a safety net for projects like these is just an illusion. There's never a safety net. You've just got to take things as they come and have a backup plan.

So the fact that they have signed an agreement that gives Xamarin a perpetual license to all the intellectual property of Mono, MonoTouch, Mono for Android, Mono for Visual Studio, etc, is fantastic for any existing customers which use these products.

This outcome is the best possible outcome given the circumstances.

"Nearly 6.2 million students in the United States between the ages of 16 and 24 in 2007 dropped out of high school..."

http://articles.cnn.com/2009-05-05/us/dropout.rate.study_1_d...

Yikes. Something stinks. In this day and age unemployment is going to continue to be really high if there are 6.2 or so million students dropping out of high school / university per year.

America (and other western countries) are not creating labor intensive industries anymore (with the exception of wars -- sad, but true), so these drop-outs are going to have real employment troubles for the rest of their 50+ years of life.

Something's gotta give.

Silicon Valley is producing these great billion dollar companies, but the companies themselves are only hiring a small fraction of the employees that similarly sized (market cap) companies have in the past. That is a bit of a problem. It means that incredible wealth is concentrated in one place, but without the filter down value that has occurred in the past.

These companies still have immense value to society, but the value as far as numbers of people employed is decreasing dramatically and that is a major concern.

This too: "When ABBA was active, only the Volvo car company made more money in Sweden.".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Sweden_an_Oil-Free_Socie...

According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Sweden) Sweden's main industries are: telecommunications equipment, wood pulp and paper products, motor vehicles, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel.

That's quite a nice spread.

There is a way, but they need to do more groundwork. Facebook started University by University. Even if it's only people at my University that can use Facebook, that's OK, because I have something in common with those people. I don't need everyone else in my life to be able to use it in order for it to be of value to me.

They need to find groups of people who have something in common.

This could be University's, companies, sporting associations, etc. Anything where there is a group of people who have a reason to communicate with each other and where it can reach a critical mass of usefulness relatively quickly.

Of course, it will require a little more hand holding, but it will give the product a greater chance of success.

Use Buzz and Wave as examples.

I have absolutely no interest in interacting with my friends and family using those services. None. My Mum wouldn't even know where to start with them. They require too much effort. Besides she's got Facebook and everyone else she knows does too.

However, I would have happily given Buzz and Wave a go through my companies Google Apps account with the rest of the guys at my company. We try new services as a team all the time to see if we can find something that will help us in some way. BUT, these services were not available to me through my Google Apps account. Only through my Gmail account. Which is a bit of a PITA since -- at the time -- you could not be logged into both Google Apps and Gmail at the same time. So it was a non-starter.

My point? Facebook started small with University's. Students who had something in common. Google should probably start with businesses. Work colleagues who have something in common. Roll it out to one Google Apps account at a time. Hold their hand. Gain traction -- then with a solid base, spread your wings and jump.

BTW -- the Government is made up of people. Citizens. People become politicians because they are voted in by other people. I find it unusual that people talk about "government" as if it is something that is detached from the citizens. People are the Government. People determine the direction of Government.

If you forget that people are the Government then you've pretty much given up on democracy.

I have grave fears for Skype.

Since Microsoft's Server and Tools Business is a 1+ billion dollar business it obviously tastes good to quite a few people.

Having an overwhelming and profound experience while taking LSD does not trivialize or diminish other experiences in your life. The soul has plenty of room for boarding.

Experiences do not have to be equivalent in order for the end result (i.e. you changing a particular behavior or making a decision to go on a different path in life) to be quite similar.

I'd prefer to focus on attention on filtered comments rather than waste time skimming hundreds of comments.

Unfortunately I don't think everyone has time to judge each comment on its own merits -- there are simply too many comments -- so we need a little crowd-sourced ranking. It does lead to some group think at times but that's a (relatively) small price to pay.

Just because Arrington wrote it doesn't mean that it is wrong.