First of a three part interview with Google's Eric Schmidt. Covers a number of topics.. Pyra Labs, micropublishing, blogging, online privacy, and Google's revenue sources..

AlwaysOn | About Google's Eric Schmidt

] AOL Time Warner has submitted a petition asking to be
] excused from the instant messaging interoperability
] requirements imposed by the Federal Communications
] Commission.

AOL asks FCC to lift IM restriction | CNET News.com

] "We do view Google more and more as a competitor. We
] believe that we can provide consumers with a better
] product and a better user experience. That's something
] that we're actively looking at doing," Bob Visse,
] director of marketing for Microsoft's MSN Internet
] services division, said.
]
] Visse said the company was making some significant
] investments in developing a better search engine. But the
] company has not offered specific plans.

Microsoft says to take aim at Google

] One of the oddest battles of the 78th Legislature is
] pitting Texas' licensed professional engineers against
] the high-tech industry's software dudes.
]
] At issue is just who in Texas can call himself an
] engineer.
]
] "It's one of the silliest issues we're having to deal
] with this session, but it's also one of the most
] important," said Steven Kester, legislative director of
] the American Electronics Association, an organization of
] computer companies.
]
] Texas has one of the nation's strictest engineering
] practices acts and limits the title of engineer to those
] people who have studied engineering and passed a
] licensing exam.
]
] And that law puts most of the "engineers" in the
] high-tech industry out of the field. Kester said the
] restriction threatens high-tech growth in Texas.

] Taylor said there are about 100,000 high-tech
] personnel in Texas who have "engineer" in their
] title, but they are not licensed by the state.
]
] "They risk fines of up to $3,000 a day for handing out
] business cards to a supplier or even dropping it in a
] fish bowl at a restaurant for a chance at a free
] lunch," Taylor said.

HoustonChronicle.com - An engineer by any other name

] "Steve and his team have done an incredible job in making
] Apple once again the very best in the world," Gore said.
] "I have been particularly impressed with the new Mac OS X
] operating system and the company's commitment to the
] open-source movement. And I am especially looking forward
] to working with and learning from the great board members
] who have guided this legendary company's inspiring
] resurgence."

Al Gore joins Apple's board | CNET News.com

] The music industry has been spoiled. They have controlled
] the distribution of music by producing CDs, and thereby
] have also protected their profits. So they have resisted
] Internet distribution. Six years ago I asked Sony Music
] to start working with IBM to figure out how to offer
] secured distribution of their content over the Net. But
] nobody in Sony Music would listen. Then about six months
] ago, they started to panic.

] Nokia is focused on volume—selling as many cell phones as
] possible at a low price. But in my observation, I am not
] sure they know very clearly what the real opportunity is
] in the telephone business. We are talking about secure
] distribution of music on the phone.

Nokia and Sony were the primary investors behind a music searching technology company I worked at. One of the key areas of interest was cell phones. Granted, that particular R&D thread is probably dead to both Nokia and Sony, due to who bought the company.

Sony's CEO Unplugged :: AO

] Sell one operating system to every citizen in China and
] you could make some real money. But in China software is
] pirated, not sold legitimately. What's a producer of
] intellectual property to do?

Ahh, this makes me think back to the days when I had a real job. My company's world HQ was located two floors below Forbes's Burlingame, CA outpost, while on the other side of the globe in Taipei, Taiwan, my companys regional office was two floors above Microsoft's Taipei outpost. When I made my first visit to this office, my first trip over to Asia, I thought Microsoft's office appeared to be forgotten.. There only because when you are as big as Microsoft, you have to have a presence everywhere. Clear evidence of this to me was the very large "Windows 95" banner strung across their lobby area, mind you, this was less then two years ago. Months later, durring another visit to this Taipei office, rennovations were under way.. It was clear that someone in Redmond had decided that they needed to get their shit together in the region. This lined up with what I was reading in all the industry rags. The slightly drab appearence of their office, chararistic of Taipei, was being replaced with the earth-tones-sprinkled-with-primary-colors Microsoft style that one becomes very familiar with when they swallow a company you work at.. Ahh, memories of another real job I had once. Anyway, I smoked many cigerettes with the Decius staring at that "Windows 95" banner..

I wouldn't be living up to my reputation unless I spun this little story into an advocacy pitch for Open Source. So here it comes.. I remember a discussion I was having with someone, in some corner in some random club in Hong Kong.. This person, was explaining to me how the average factory in the Guangzhou area in China operated. While just like in the US and most other places, factories only make particular components of final products. The overall process of creating a given mouse or keyboard may be spread across several companies/factories, but there were stark differences in how many of the factories managed their machine infrastructure. It was not only common, but normal, for most companies to actually manafacture the machines themselves that they use to build their products. That is not the norm most places. You don't build a lathe unless lathes are part of your core business, you buy a lathe. Well, apparently thats not the way it works in China I'm told.. Aparently, its likely you build the hardware you use to manafacture your products. At least, thats the way it had been, its changing as their tech and manafacturing industry matures. Taking that into account, these people are going to love Open Source Software. There is a certain degree to which that kind of approach is the one you need to take with (certain) software in the enterprise. When you are talking about things like Operation Support Systems (The other application of the OSS acronym), its rare you find a program suite that fits your needs exactly. There is always a degree to which you wind up inventing your own wheels, abet based off the wheels of others. I think this, along with China's attitude to IP, is going to play into things in the long run.

Forbes.com: Microsoft's Long March (into China)