Blog transferred

This blog has been partially transfered and integrated with the 2009 one.
Go here ( octavianmihai.com ) and see my daily posts.
Thank you for following me!!!

We're Moving

Notice
This blog will slowly merge with the new one http://octavianmihai.wordpress.com.

Why?
In order to ensure the authenticity of my discourse in a period of rapid personal development, Ive decided to create a new communication platform.

Again?
Yup, we had: late 90's RoMcGill 2 versions (now dead), then octavianmihai.com now at its 4th version, then hhro 2 versions - now dead), octaviancollects (dead), jaimecandy.com now at its second version; then d0k.com on blogger, early 2000 and 2006 the current version.


Why do you always destroy parts of the past?
I am the past. My eyes are on the future. Anybody can reinvent the past, but that's no fun :).

All good things have an end. This is not it.

Octavian Collects

Just in case you did not notice I have started posting my collection of interesting random photos. Some are funny, but they also make you think! :) Very good when you try to ideate.

Here it is: Octavian Collects http://octaviancollects.blogspot.com/

Let me know what you think.

Summer News

Lately I've been working quite a lot with Jonathan on the new Jaime Candy. In august you'll see the results. Also organizing the new office (1200 Aldred Building).

Other than that, rainy summer in Montreal.

Strong Like Bull - The making of

The funny reading was because the text on the paper was not English but Romanian with English pronunciation. Very interesting and conflicting reading. You should try it :) Sorry about the bad sound, just play it louder, but not too loud :P

Stong-Like-Bull The Short

Due to popular demand, I've decided to publish the Strong like bull video. Enjoy.



This is a video Ive made as part of a contest when the Montrealer agency Diesel Marketing changed its name to Sid Lee. One of the reasons was to distinguish itself from the Diesel jeans, to open towards a more international market with a new concept of 'commercial creativity'.

Music is by Zob si Zdup.
Bogdan Stoica was the man behind the camera and the one who helped me edit and put everything together.

Make sure you come back for the hilarious making-of.

Web 2.0: A (pretty dumb) way of thinking...

Ok, ok, here is a (complete) quote that everybody seems to use nowadays.

"Web 2.0 is much more than just pasting a new user interface onto an old application. It’s a way of thinking, a new perspective on the entire business of software— from concept through delivery, from marketing through support." Web 2.0 principles and best practices O'Reilly media Inc 2006.

This type of ideological remark is usually done to convert the late majority and the laggards.

Hip-hop was saying the same thing before starting to disintegrate.

Of course it is a way of thinking. Bad thinking... if missunderstood...

Clearly, the internet will live but what we call now 2.0 is just a buzz term. At a conference some dude was asking google's ceo Eric Schmidt (if im not mistaken) what is web 3.0...
So yeah! jump on it while is hot. Web 3.0 is coming! douchebag...

In order to properly use it you have to understand it. And no understanding has ever occurred with funky emotional reptilian sale pitches.

Many businesses use this 'way of thinking' argument to sell their clients useless crap.

And to tackle another quote from the same publication: "Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the Internet—a more mature, distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects."

I do agree with the author, but I think that the use of this buzz to make sales only reinforces the bubble explosion.

Within this definition, the web 2.0 system provider has to prove that:

1. there is enough power to bypass the tipping point and create a network effect
2. if used internally, the employee participation to such an open system generates a network effect that is productive for the business...
3. if used as a marketing tool, the network effect will translate in direct sales (customer acquisition cost analysis, etc)

For most businesses there is no compelling measurable argument that guarantees a client ROI by implementing a web 2.0 (whatever that means) system.

Now the implementation of this 2.0 thing tends to become the new ERP, BI, HRM systems... GRR.... Every company now wants a wiki, facebook, collaboration website, blog, etc.

All I am saying is: think twice!

Or you will find yourself a couple hundred $Ks later with a useless system.
Or even worse... With a system that encourages your employees to lose concentration, time, etc.

Somebody please, think of the clients...

Whaa? Hush now!

----
Octavian Mihai

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I can't stop but see red (sic) when I hear ignorants making the apology of communism.

To settle this once and for all.

Communism is a bankrupt ideology. Communism cannot but end in bankruptcy. As it already did once. Period.

People are not equal. And they will never be. WTF!!!!

And yes we are better off now than ever. Is this the best possible world? Probably not (wink Leibnitz), but the world will definitely be a better place when I'll publish this post.

We need equal liberty, we need competition (play), we need rewards, we need to protect and help the ones in need.
Is the present capitalist system perfect? Absolutely not. Can it be improved with a more humanistic dimension? Certainly.

As my friend, Tudor, a philosopher of science, was giving me an example yesterday. Assume a communist planet like Earth receives $60billion aid. Should they distribute the wealth, every person will receive $10. Just enough to go to a movie. And then? WTF?

But this is just a hilarious consequence of communist systems. Now:

- people are not equal
- communist system will try to level everybody
- people are not equal
- need a police state to keep this level to the lowest common denominator
- people are not equal
- lowest common denominator becomes the norm
- idiots get to power
- idiots will always be idiots
- intelligent people that try to speak out are silenced
- the rest has no incentives and rewards
- wealth is not produced
- the system slowly or violently disintegrates

There was a saying in communist Romania: "They are pretending to pay us, we are pretending to work." QED.

Liberty saves the world.

And the only country that made from liberty her strongest pillar is the same country that saved the world several times from suicidal political systems...

So for all the apologists of imbecile political systems please go and live there first and then I want to see you speak (oops, you won't be able to, free speech is not their most favourite hobby)....

... grrrrrrrrr... ;)

About affirmative actions... The Boys Project

http://boysproject.net/statistics.html

What do you think? Scary, ain't it?

Here is what I think...

I forsee a couple avenues:

1. This trend might underline a societal shift with a change of the gender power balance and some sacrified male generations.
Utilitarian speaking if at the end of the shift we end up with a better society may be all this is worth it.

Possible problems:
The female population starts to be too overstressed and it will not resist the change.

Family vs Career is a false dichotomy and the female population will soon become as alienated as the male one. In this situation, there is a risk to end up with an uncompetitive society.

2. This trend might underline a re-balancing of the gender power by means of affirmative actions (positive discrimination).

Possible problems:
The affirmative action is discriminating and if misunderstood a very soft and sweet form of revenge.
What does it mean?
In this context affirmative action means:

a. the female gender is intentionally helped to get at some undeserving levels
and/or
b. the male gender is intentionally kept down so it won't get to a deserving level
(hehe, i bet you never seen it put this way...)

Here again we face the same problem: an unfit and uncompetitive society.

Another problem:
With the present statistics we face another problem. We have unbalanced again the society, in the detriment of the male gender. Affirmative action is a painful iterative process.

This happens to me almost every time I try to grow a beard... :) ... I shave one side too much and then I try to catch up by shaving a bit more on the other side. Needless to say that 15 minutes later I end up completely shaved.
Sure, you might say, if I am such a bad barber I might need a professional... or just let the beard grow wild... And I would agree...

This is exactly the problem with missed affirmative action: it is unprofessional :).

I let you guess why we need a competitive society.

and those were my 2 cents... grrrrrrrrr... ;)
---------------

Octavian Mihai

Why world sustainability is achievable in the next 40-70 years - The Robin Hood Business Model

One of the arguments I use when discussing about the propagation of new products (like aids drugs, genetic tests, 3d printers, etc) is the what I call the Robin Hood business model (a combination of patent breaking and network effects business model... this is not a really a business model but draws the lines of a very interesting value proposition).

Here is the problem:

I argue that the world will achieve sustainability in the next 40-70 years.
This includes independent sources of energy for every person (solar, organic, whateva), cures for almost all known illnesses (aids, cancer, etc).
Most of these are technologies and discoveries are already here, some of them are in the midst of being created and are generally undisputed.
The problem is not if we have the capacity and the means to become sustainable, because we do.
The issue is more about the whole world becoming sustainable in a relatively short period after the discoveries are made.

The usual counter-argument is normally a two-fold conspiracy one:

c-a-1. Well, companies making these discoveries will try to hold them from propagating by keeping a hold of patents. Also governments and companies will try to not disclose these discoveries in order to keep a competitive and negotiating advantage.

c-a-2. The companies and governments will block the distribution channels of those products by blackmailing other governments, retail stores, etc.

And here is my counter-counter-argument:

c-c-a 1. The propagation of new products and discoveries is unstoppable because:

a. Due to the already high level of technology dissemination and free trade most of the products can be reproduced in any part of the world. Also in an open world like ours the problem of stopping illegal trade is extremely complex and almost impossible to resolve.

b. The products will be produced faster than the duration of the patent (20 years after which anybody can use them). The reason is that many countries will break patents. China is a classic example, also Brazil and Thailand have recently officially broke AIDS drug patents.

c. The previous 2 arguments will create a re-positioning of the patent legislation in order to protect the innovation and free expression.

c. Old business models are inverted and many essential services and products will be offered for free or at a very affordable price. And the sole competition will become who can offer more free and quality products in order for the clients to buy co-lateral ones. (See what is happening in the IT world with free internet, free sites, free tv, etc)

d. Consider recent examples of products and services like PCs, internet connectivity, cellphones, AIDS drugs, that have great penetration rate in the last 7 years in all the corners of the world.

c-c-a 2. In an open society distribution channels cannot be blocked because:

a. For companies the price decides the market. The only way companies can block certain products is to offer similar ones at a lower price. So the products will still penetrate the market. QED.

b. Governments cannot block products that solve sustainability issues like drugs and energy. They can block the discovery and legislate on the use of those products, but unless blatant evidence on the bad effects of a technology or product at some point it will be legislated.

In conclusion, sustainability is achievable with the present economic tools by keeping an economically opened society.

I call the Robin Hood business model the actions taken by countries or companies to:
- break patents to offer a more affordable solution to people in need
- offer free services and affordable products (see Google, Joost, etc) - freminum, network effects business models

The money will come in terms of co-lateral products and services and by creating a trust relationship with the users. And, in the case of governments, by solving costing social, economic and health issues.

- Octavian Mihai

P.S. I will never say it often enough! Ad agencies: WAKE UP OR DIE!

--------------

And the job of the future is....

The prophet.

The age of procrastination, a stupid key and the revenge of the users

Ok i did not really want to talk about it but i have a side comment concerning the fuck up at digg.
A couple days ago, last time i checked, the article with the key from doom9 had about 24000 digs. This was in response to the previous removal of user accounts and articles by diggs admins.
Now allegedly reddit faces an invasion of digg users.

In any case, this made me think of what Bruce Sterling was saying some time ago about the the web2.0 tech bubble and the revenge of the users. This is just another example of the volatility of the web2.0 buzz. The users are not loyal to any service and they have a nomadic behavior always migrating where the grass is greener.

This is an age of procrastination and where too many choices are toxic for the untrained person (Seth Godin in a conference was saying that he only has 17 minutes of free time a day).

What does is all mean?
Does youtube have a real loyal user base? Or do i really care about my myspace and hi5 three hundred 'friends'? Ok facebook has a more personal approach with a more emotional charge, but i would still let it go for something different.
So, users bring advertisers and advertisers money.

We have a problem.
We all know that marketing is finding ways to sell lies. The problem is that for some time now the marketing agency sells lies in both directions (the users and the clients). The metrics are very complex and usually an in-depth analysis shows that almost all the marketing money goes into notoriety and too little into direct user buy-in (just think of Shai that albeit the enormous number of visitors failed by far to make the predicted sales)

Yes we live in a content oriented advertisement environment, where users willingly consume the ads (immersive experiential websites, funny videos, viral campaigns, etc), but this does in no way insure that the user will buy the product. All those commercials have only entertainment and notoriety value. And simply notoriety is not a strong enough dimension to make a user buy the product. (Red Bull found a way. By means of edgy adrenaline pumped real-life events.)

Blogs will die, videos will stay free, fame is ephemeral, social networking will get canalized, participative democracy is the only way, ad agencies better wake up, branding is about living the promise not about speaking the language.

-- Octavian Mihai

new horizons

alright, here is the scoop.

on february the 2nd 2007 i have left Sid Lee aka Diesel Marketing. It was an extremely difficult decision since in the past year and so they've become part of my family. We've departed in very good terms and with the promise that in a way or another our relationship will continue. It was more difficult than imagined to leave Martin, Karim, Yanick, Caroline and my teams and the others.

now, you may ask, why a bright young lad like myself ( :P ) is leaving an even brigher company with amazing clients and great future... the answer is quite simple: im starting my own business. and those who know me will confirm that this thought was with me for the past 6 years. well, i've waited as much as i could and now is the time.

my company will focus on business intelligence and innovation. i am giving myself a couple of months to sort things out and then i'll give you more news. good things come to those who wait...

and although i appreciate all the offers, no, i am not interested in a new job.

i start this new adventure with extreme excitment and determination. and feel free to write me if you want to get in touch.

so, what about those colts?

-- Octavian Mihai