What's the Buzz on Buzz?

At first glances Google's new Buzz service might just seem like another "throw it on the pile network and, to be honest, it doesn't offer quantity of game changing new features that other Google producs have in the past, like Gmail and Google Voice. However, I can see at least one striking feature that sets Buzz apart.
If you are all ready using your mobile device for updating twitter more than you use a desktop client then Buzz adds an interesting social dynamic to certain events. All ready, some people have used the ability to see and respond to a Buzz in your area, such as during the recent "Snowpocalypse" where people where buzzing about what was going on right in their immediate area. This geographically links social networks to time and events. An ad-hock social network can pop up connecting people involved in an event at a specific time and place to share information and partake in conversations without having to search endless useless tags of mostly the same unverified information and without have to have prior knowledge as to who is there with them.
This gives a whole new spin on the usefulness of social networks. Imagine being at an event such as the Olympics. You can get real time updates of events from actual observers that are at the event with you. While no credentials come with the information the fact that you can see that they are at least at the event adds more weight the information's accuracy.
In times of crisis being able to get information from people near you can be a life saver. Imaging how different events like Columbine, 911 and Hurricane Katrina would have been if life saving information could have traveled to the people who need it in real time. Police could track suspects based on eye witness accounts. Information on road closures and medical supplies could be relayed. Lives will be saved! It could even make it less boring to sit in a traffic jam. This kind of spontaneous social interaction could have a profound impact on the outcome of events.
There, of course, will be a negative impact to all of this. Less privacy, people who take advantage and the ever present trolls of the internet but all and all I think that location information coupled with social networking could be an extremely powerful force.

Screw the Year of the Linux Desktop.

Are you still wondering if 2010 will be the year of the Linux desktop? Who cares?

Firstly, The Linux Desktop is progressing by leaps and bounds. In fact it verges on blissful perfection. It doesn't matter if your Grandma or work is using it. It still works and it's still cool as hell. It's not fringe, it's not a stigma. It's here, it's now and it kicks ass.

Secondly, There are cooler things on the horizon that make worrying about acceptance silly.

Sure the G1 was cool and relatively open. But how about the upcoming Android phones? Sure the iPhone gobbled up the smart phone market but Floss is catching up and will soon be dominant.

See, there is something that proprietary can't compete with. Free software is all about what the user want's. It's free, it powerful, it doesn't leave them stranded with vendor lock in and they won't be left unsupported when the next wave of innovation gets crammed down our throat.

It brings up an interesting use case for freedom over closed ideology. As something like the iPhone, iPod or iTunes takes over a market. It can benefit from locking things down. They create a bottle neck that funnels all income to one source. That's great for the company but sucks for the consumer. A recent trend is to use freedoms as a market getting alternative. Creating competition where there wasn't any before.

One such instance is the Amazon mp3 store. They used freedom from DRM to change the game. Now mobile phone companies are doing the same with Android because free software easily fits the bill. You can take it right now and deploy it with a minimum of resources and get it to market. Also, the open development means you will attract enough developers to start catching up with the App Store.

The next cool device running Android is the Barnes and Nobel Nook. An e-book reader that will take on the Amazon kindle. Creating a interesting irony that Amazon stole market share with more freedom and now B&N will steal market share doing the same.

When will they learn that the more freedom they afford their users the more competitive they will be in the future.

So anyways, back at the point. This is the year of the Linux personal device. When the coolest devices that your friends drool after aren't Apple or Microsoft but Linux.