There are some people whom I am very grateful to, mainly because of the excellent ideas which they generate. The list is long, from many that I have been fortunate to work with, to others I have just read the work of or occasionaly met - such as Bruce Sterling (invented the term "Spime"), Andrew McAfee ("Enterprise 2.0"), Nick Carr ("Commoditisation of IT") and Tim O'Reilly ("Web 2.0" and other concepts).
I have met Tim on rare occasions, and in my view he is an interesting person who has provided some outstanding conferences (from EuroFoo to ETech) through which I have been fortunate to meet some highly creative people.
I'm very grateful for this (along with the books of course) as my life has been enriched by such experiences.
However I have seen some fairly hostile posts against him the past. The latest comment from Steve though is just acidic.
First Tim, thanks for organising great conferences - very much appreciated.
Second Tim, thanks for posting your views on the radar - very much appreciated.
Yes, I'm speaking in a vendor slot at E-Tech, I'm a vested interest and I'll be talking about a subject matter (commoditisation of IT) which I'm not only interested in and passionate about but I'm also trying to make a good living in to.
So I suppose I'm up for the duck shoot too.
We need more fowl and less foul in this world.