Like Eric, I want .NET on Linux, Solaris and MacOS X. Unlike Eric, I want pieces of the server as well. Yes, I understand that .NET is the pointman for Microsoft in the fight to own the server. I’m just not convinced that the server is worth owning.

The fight to own the desktop was about controlling the platform and the user’s eyeball. That fight is over, Microsoft won. Now the application server is the platform and the user doesn’t see the server OS. So what exactly is the server fight about?

And that’s all right with me. I know that when you break down the numbers there is an obscene profit margin on CD sales. But when you’re a fan of small artists, those same profit margins let those artists earn a living. That table at your local club, selling CD’s of the headliner’s music, can be the difference between a hardscrabble existence and a decent career.

And just about everyone has a CD to sell. Because you can get a small run of CD’s at a reasonable price. And you can jam a bunch of CD’s in the trunk of your car to sell at your shows. And you can even find people like Andrew Calhoun, an artist who founded a label to distribute his kind of music.

So as far as I’m concerned, $0.99/song from Apple’s iTunes Music Store is a deal. Now, if we could just get going on the selection.

It seems that Microsoft has slid on its commitment to produce open standard file formats for its Office products. This is a setback for the CMS community, still waiting for a commonly accepted XML word processor. With it, a CMS would be able to open up documents and expose their structure. Without it, a CMS fills up with opaque document blobs.

The problem with Word [or any other word processor] is that there are too many ways to do too many things. And most of those ways provide no meaningful semantic meaning. Properly done, XML would provide that meaning from within the format.

Of course, XML is not a panacea. But a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Word XML support would take us from how to how well. And that would be a big step in the right direction.

After 20 years on the West Coast and 2 on the East, let me assure you that the West is Best – if you’re a sports fan that is. Your morning sports section has all the scores, while us easterners have to hit the internet for the late scores. You can watch to the end of Monday Night Football without your tail dragging on Tuesday morning. And you can watch the Mighty Ducks continue their improbable run through the Stanley Cup Playoffs (10 pm tonight on ESPN).

A nice presentation on Portals and CMS: Why You Need Them Both by Paul Browning. I’ve been meaning to address this same topic and this will give me some motivation. [via the CMS mailing list - currently having some archive problems]

Johanna Rothman is curious: How do You Listen? While I’m not suggesting that you or any of your development team are childish, I suspect that many of your conversations are. My advice is to read a copy of How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk and change the way you ask questions. I first read this book while directing an overseas development team and I didn’t realize how strongly the way I asked questions created a framework for the answers that followed.

Last week on the VentureBlog, Naval warned entrepreneurs of the risk of not talking technology with VC’s and mentions the absence of an NDA as a common concern of presenting entrepreneurs. On the face of things, this seems unfair to the entrepreneur. But the risk of signing an NDA is much greater to the VC than the risk of presenting without an NDA is to the entrepreneur.

Most people over rate the value of the idea. If the idea alone was really that valuable, then it wouldn’t take years to turn the idea into a successful product. The devil is in the details. And you retain your knowledge of the implementation details that make the idea work.

People also don’t understand that having a competitor is often better than not having one. One of the biggest problems facing a young company is how to convince prospects that your market is for real (the business problem is real, the solution really exists, the solution yields a healthy ROI and your company will actually stay in business long enough for them to realize that ROI). Having healthy competition is a strong indication that you’re in a real market. Plus their marketing dollars will reinforce yours in establishing the market.

On the other hand, the NDA can prevent the VC from doing its job. If you’ve done your homework, then the VC has interests in this area. But your NDA will inhibit their ability to brainstorm with their portfolio companies in this same area. And VC’s have deep pockets, so they are rightfully leary of a litigious presenter.

Which is not to say that you need to shout your idea from the rooftops. Just that you need to take calculated risks in bringing your idea to market. You need the VC more than it needs you, so this is a risk that you need to take.

Gaining an understanding of the business issues that drive technology adoption is a good career move for any technical person. The process may be painful, but it will make you a more effective developer at the very least. Specifications usually explain the what and how of your application; to understand the why, you need to see how the technology dovetails into the business. That’s why I have the VentureBlog, Due Diligence, Charles Hudson, and Matthew Berk on my Blog Roll; these are blogs that I read to understand the intersection of business and technology.

I’m a bit slow on the uptake this week, but Scoble’s effort to learn programming makes new sense to me now. I’ve never been a technical evangelist, but I spent several years working in technical alliances and there is a lot of similarity between the two. We usually worked in pairs, one focusing on the business relationship side of the alliance and one focusing on the technical side. Your effectiveness greatly increased with your ability to handle both sides of the relationship. A knowledge of .NET development will make Scoble that much more effective as an evangelist.

BTW, I did get to the point where I felt comfortable with both. But I still preferred to work with a partner for preparation and debrief. Plus, one of the harder things for a technical person to learn is not to answer with the complete truth when confronted with an unexpected question. Having a partner along helped me curb that tendency - not that I recommend you deceive a prospect, but you don’t need to give them the detailed list of exceptions and work arounds either.

Scoble swallows the red pill, and starts as a Microsoft .NET Evangelist in mid-May. Based on his weblog, it’s a job that suits him. I wish him luck in his new position.

Just for the record, I’m a Microsoft resenter. Odd, because I admire Microsoft in many ways. It is one of the great success stories of my lifetime. While perhaps not always a great innovator, it is superb at listening to the marketplace and refining it’s products to meet the market’s needs.

The problem is that Microsoft is such a fierce competitor that it has sucked the oxygen out of much of the software market. Scoble plans to keep track of users switching to and from Windows. I think he’d be better served by tracking the release of .NET applications and the conversion of .NET developers. I know that’s what I’ll be watching.