gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

Truly a giant amongst midgets, right up there with Al Gore ;)

Anybody think the 'Al Gore invented the internet' thing is getting a bit old?
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp

Anybody think bashing Dave Winer is getting a bit old?

Betsy, I do. Dave Winer invented RSS... I've been reading his weblog since 1997 and I watched it happen. He was certainly inspired by the initial work done at Netscape, work that he collaborated on, but he saw the ideas through to a workable format and widespread deployment. Its a great achievement, one he should be proud of.

Not to mention podcasting and OPML. Much credit is deserved.

Besides, who's heard of a 50 year old hippy/ex hippy man who wasn't full of himself, talked too much and was way more obnoxious in his personal interactions that his stated beliefs would make you hope for? Ok, so there are a few and thank god for them. But why pick on Dave winer? I could start a list of dudes that have all the same annoying tendencies and have contributed less.

Young men - let's not end up that way! (But may we do stuff half as cool!)

I don't get this. Like it or not, the guy did a lot to make blogging possible. If he wants to occasionally remind people of that on his blog I don't have a problem with that. This doodle says more about Hugh McLeod than about Dave Winer.

Why yes, Walter, it says "Hugh MacLeod is a fucking asshole." Well spotted.

Checks and balances is good for the bloatosphere--one of the few places it actually exists today.

If you want to truly understand Dave Winer, I think you need to listen to the podcast where he interviews his father about Outlining...

Dave asks "Have you heard about Podcasting?"

Dr. Leon Winer replies "I read the papers."

Unfucking believeable... can you wonder why he has such a fixation with credit and respect for his achievements? There's a kid in there that didn't get nurtured.

I think Dave's insatiable need for validation stems from the dynamics of that relationship.

I recall Dave writing that he tends to become unglued when someone reminds him of his father... it's at the root of his raging.

Dave Winer is the likely the most modest and sweet tempered megalomaniac on the internet... and thanks to blogging and podcasting many megalomaniacs will be able to get the attention they so desparately need.

If Dave Winer can stop blogging it will mean that he may finally come to terms with some internal forces that have shaped his adult life.

It never fails to surprise how many people are willing to come out in support of an obnoxious multi-millionaire who - somehow, and despite being a brilliant pioneer of web technology and all round good guy - seems to piss off almost everyone he has regular dealings with.

Point of fact -- Dave Winer did not invent RSS. Dave Winer did not invent the name or the concept. He helped make it big, he marketed it, he bullied and blustered and exaulted, but the technology survived despite his contribution, not because of it.

A follow up point of fact: Dave Winer did not invent podcasting either. He helped make it big, marketed it, bullied and blustered and exaulted, but the technology survived despite his contributions, not because of it either.

Dave didn't invent RSS. Nor does he claim to. Go listen to the NerdTV interview he did with Robert Cringely where he explicitly says he realized that (to paraphrase) the second mover "makes" the standard, and so he threw away his own syndication format to support Netscape's RSS.

My comments here...

http://www.scripting.com/2006/03/19.html#whoIsPhilJones

Dave

There were at least two well-known simple syndication formats before Dave made his: MCF and CDF. Search Dave's archives around 1997 for details.