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Not Invented Here? So What?

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During my paternity leave, I found myself with a lot of time by myself. Don't get me wrong--I spent a lot of time with my daughter. However, my daughter is still very young and, as I've learned, they don't do very much at that age but still take a lot of time. For example, my wife seems to react to a midnight feeding request faster than I do and eventually the guilt got to me. To try to ensure my wife a little extra sleep, I stayed up and kept an eye on my baby till the wee hours. Actually, it was excuse to go into "night owl" mode--something I don't get to do now that I hold a day job (I guess there are some things about school that I do miss). Anyway, with my daughter snoring away (yes, she snores) in the background, I managed to hack around the PC to learn new technologies as well as refreshing my old skills. As a manager, I don't get much chance to get into the technology any more, but I find the need to keep my skills fresh (a) because I am a geek and (b) so that I don't fall into the path of mini-MSFT's mass reduction at Microsoft. So, I spent time re-learning how to write Windows Services (this was my forte 10 years ago on NT 3.51) for a personal project and re-learning how to write AJAX applications to get a grasp of all the hubbub. Oh, did I say re-learning? Yes, allow me to use the refrain heard commonly around Microsoft: "Microsoft invented AJAX!" Yes, we did do Outlook Web Access and we should be plenty proud. But, as I looked back on the small startup where I worked in 1998, I was doing it as well. Wow--I was a pioneer! Woohoo! But here's a message for the Microsoft folks that scoff at Google's work with AJAX and like to brag about Microsoft really inventing AJAX: the inventor is irrelevant. It's the difference between innovation and entrepreneurship. Innovation is the new idea, but entrepreneurship determines who the winner is. Xerox PARC invented the GUI, but Apple and Microsoft capitalized. I saw a blog where a Microsoft employee talked about how he was excited about Gadgets, only to be barraged by a set of complaints from Apple users that reminded him that widgets have been around Apple for years. Note to Apple users: chill! You are right--you had widgets long before we had gadgets. And Creative had MP3 players long before Apple, but that's no reason to think the iPod doesn't rock. It's not just about who came up with the idea, but who figures out how to get it into the hands of people. Hats off the Microsoft Windows for the GUI, Apple iPod for the MP3 player, and Google GMail for AJAX--for now. Personally, I don't think the battle for "Web 2.0" is over just yet and I'm still feeling pretty good about Microsoft's chances...

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