__ Rants & Raves __
__ Hope Springs Eternal __
It is refreshing to see up-and-coming entrepreneurs being compared to Howard Roark, the hero of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead ("Transformer," Wired 6.06, page 176). If Roark becomes widely held as an ideal, the world will be in store for nothing short of a second Renaissance. I can't wait!
Amesh Adalja
amesh@prodigy.com
__ Pulling a Few Strings __
Cheers to Qwest's Joseph Nacchio for laying down enough bandwidth to make the world happy ("Building the Future-Proof Telco," Wired 6.05, page 124). Reading about how much effort and money goes into wiring the globe makes me wish that a cups-and-string network would do the job.
Dan Cederholm
dan@robotcom.com
__ Fiber-Rich Recipe __
My suggestion for getting Qwest's fiber the last mile into the house: Pull it through the gas lines.
Keith Ortiz
k4@sprintmail.com
__ Adding Fuel to the Fire __
Michael Wolff's "Bonfire of the Securities" (Wired 6.06, page 112) is an entertaining account of what it's like to come close to getting a company financed. But its sarcastic cinders hide a compelling truth: Patricof & Co., the investment firm Wolff so artfully skewers, has invested billions of dollars over the years in firms that have created much of the digital culture celebrated in your pages. (Full disclosure: Patricof & Co. invested in my firm, SCP Communications, in 1982; it sold all its shares back last year.)
Most deals proposed to venture capitalists don't get financed; the ones that do are high-risk. VCs bet on people and ideas, and, unlike stock traders and pure financial engineers, the return they make is measured over years, not months, days, or hours. Maybe it's hard to see when you fail, but all of us - entrepreneurs, investors, and customers who enjoy new products and services - need more, not fewer, eclectic, irrational, imaginative Patricofs willing to risk time, money, and work to see whether a neat idea and management team have a shot.
Peter Frishauf
Chair, SCP Communications
peter_frishauf@scp.com
__ Confessions of a Player-Killer __
When I first logged on to Ultima Online, I was overcome by the lawlessness, cruelty, and clannishness of the whole place ("Killers Have More Fun," Wired 6.05, page 140). It was as if I had landed in the digital version of Lord of the Flies. Reluctantly, I started my killing. To my surprise, I began to enjoy it. On one occasion I was about to stick a hapless victim, and, amid the gore and screams, I felt a drop of compassion - my humanity was confirmed, but my blood lust was not abated. While killing in UO and killing in life are not the same, this particular incident made me realize that virtue comes from the self, not from attaining some reward set up by a game's programmers. It's clear that online gaming should not be the venue for applying Kant's categorical imperative.
At its best, Ultima Online is about escapism. And by not limiting us, it provides a catharsis for the moral and social burdens of everyday life.
Juraj Lisiak
juraj@juraj.com
__ Beyond Meatspace __
I'm disgusted by the idea of someone monitoring my every keystroke to determine which animated banner to flash in my face, based on whether I'm a 17-year-old white female student or a 50-year-old Hispanic male corporate exec ("The Promise of One to One," Wired 6.05, page 130). I don't need to be electronically stalked every time I log on. If you insist on trying to sell me stuff online, try providing something Ican't buy in meatspace. Follow Amazon.com and CDnow by offering products that Ican't get at the local Barnes & Noble and Camelot Music.
Christina Kuhn
dollfaceanna@hotmail.com
__ Fizzling Burn Rate __
I am writing to express my concern over the severe inaccuracies and misinformation contained in Michael Wolff's Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet, specifically the negative portrayal of the relationship between Alan Patricof and the management of America Online.
As founding CEO of AOL, I assume that I am in the best position to evaluate the quality of this relationship, and it was far different from the portrayal in Wolff's book. Alan Patricof had an excellent relationship with me, as well as with the people who worked for me. Alan played a very significant role in AOL's acquisition of start-up funding for the company. It would not be an overstatement to suggest that without Patricof & Co., AOL would not exist.
James V. Kimsey
Founding CEO and chair emeritus, America Online
Washington, DC
__ Bonne Idée __
Though I've never subscribed to Wired, I have tried to find time to read it every month for the past two years. Let's just say I am an habitué. I get this incredible feeling of déjà vu, vis-à-vis the French magazines, because Wired seems to cover every topic at least six months before they do, and their tra-la-la-la always sounds passé to me. Wired's a real tour de force!
However, you should cover France once in a while, not just borrow some idées fortes from its language to make Wired à la français!
Dov B. Rueff
dov@cyberdude.com
__ Looking Backward __
As I read why the Bronze Age building methodology of Danny Hillis's clock is so upsetting to other futurists ("The Long Now," Wired 6.05, page 116), I was reminded of Sir Winston Churchill's quote: "The farther back you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see."
Scott Senften
senften@siggraph.org
__ Indie Leverage __
I feel that "Rebootlegger" (Wired 6.07, page 59) overlooked the importance of MP-3 compressed audio distribution as one of the best opportunities for disintermediation available on the Internet. It would be a tremendous benefit to the artists and content creators to have this more efficient, lower-cost method of delivery as a bargaining tool when dealing with an industry famous for back-stabbing and waste. Entertainment companies will have to offer higher payouts to the talent, or else the talent will choose to market its wares online and en masse.
The bootlegged tunes referenced in the piece are copied from CDs with no copyright protection, and it can be argued that copyright violations have cost artists more than bootlegs ever have. "Indie" does not classify this new distribution machine so much as it expresses the self-sufficient status artists might experience as a result of these technologies.
David Touve
President, mr2v.com
mr2v@mr2v.com
__ Creative Conflict __
Po Bronson's piece on Danny Hillis certainly had an interesting subject, and I found much of the detail to be intriguing. The self-deprecating introspection about the article got a little old, but I had to fly to the keyboard after reading this comment: "Most creative minds would find Disneyland antithetical to creativity." Excuse me?! When did Bronson corner the market on understanding how creativity happens?
Eric Walusis
wal.e@ix.netcom.com
__ Mind Your Own Business __
Simon Davies glosses over the fact that the European Data Protection Directive is a battle for citizens' rights ("Europe to US: No Privacy, No Trade," Wired 6.05, page 135). For the first time, we Europeans will be masters of our own data.
Observing the October 25 deadline, almost every institution with which I am affiliated - my bank, credit card society, employer - has asked me in writing what it is authorized to do with my data (name, medical records, financial status, et cetera). When a surveyor misrepresented my garbage-collection rates, a simple hint that I might complain to the privacy commissioner in Rome about the mismanagement of my data solved the problem in seconds.
The privacy code is also tied to other important issues. The Schengen treaty - which eliminates border controls between European countries and endorses a Union-wide database for crime-control agencies - requires participating countries to maintain certain standards of data protection. By meeting these standards, the European Data Protection Directive will allow universal access to the criminal database.
It seems to me that the US is playing catch-up. European citizens will not give up their rights for the sake of some American marketers.
Luca Logi
llogi@dada.it
__ Undo __
East Is West: Ralf Regitz is on the right in the image on page 151 of Wired 6.06 ("Venture Kapital"); Dr. Motte is on the left. ... Name-Calling: In-Defense 2.1 is actually In-Defense Enterprise Total Solution ("Sick Computer, Smart Treatment," Wired 6.07, page 148). ... Picture Imperfect: The image on page 115 of Wired 6.07 is of Hong Kong's Ting Kau Bridge ("The Spirit of Mega").
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