Leaving Openwave...
what a trip this has been...
Four years ago when I joined Openwave through the acquisition of Avogadro, the technologists were largely in control of the place, boldly trying to integrate the technologies from a dozen acquisitions into one unified master architecture. Unified messaging was the ruler of the day, and I recall endless discussions about integrating the Avo IM server with the DSFE etc. etc. The ex-Onebox crew were at the helm, following a remarkably consistent Openwave trend that the management teams of newly-acquired entities seem to take over for a few years shortly after acquisition. The ex-Avo execs then had their turn, taking over DPG and, briefly, technology strategy for the whole company. And then the SignalSoft crew came in and took over most of the infrastructure side of the business. And now the Magic4 crew are taking their turn.
But it's a very different company now, no longer driven by grand technological visions but by strict financial discipline - the pendulum has swung completely to the other side. The reign of the technologists was no paradise, let me tell you - the fate of UM being a case in point - and the dark period that ensued as the company faced financial reality was no fun at all. Among the worst memories was sitting in a room in Bellevue with my remaining ex-Avo coworkers and listening to our then-VP announce that everyone in the room was getting laid off except for a lucky three who had found a lifeboat.
Through all the changes, I was fortunate to be involved in two good projects to keep me occupied; to be exposed to a fascinating, global business, and an exceptional group of people spread across many countries; to travel to France and Japan and Italy and England and Atlanta (several times) to see things in action in the field; and to learn, a lot, about managing projects on a global scale, about stacks of technology previously unknown to me, about the peculiar, insular world of the global telecommunications industry.
A careful reader of this space will have noticed over the past couple months my disillusionment with the closed world of mobile communications technology, and its focus on useless services: the mobile Internet is but a pale and unsatisfying imitation of the real Internet, and so it shall remain as long as no room is allowed for people - just random geeks in the field - to write interesting, useful, communications-oriented applications for the mobile phone. The advent of rich scripting in the browser may help, but I can't help wondering if all the truly interesting features of that environment will end up castrated by some security policy or snuffed out in the process of being shoehorned into a billing model that doesn't fit the service.
So I'm off ... with a very special thanks to Reardon and Rob Williams who guided me through this adventure and entrusted me with running the fun and interesting projects that made it all worthwhile.
Four years ago when I joined Openwave through the acquisition of Avogadro, the technologists were largely in control of the place, boldly trying to integrate the technologies from a dozen acquisitions into one unified master architecture. Unified messaging was the ruler of the day, and I recall endless discussions about integrating the Avo IM server with the DSFE etc. etc. The ex-Onebox crew were at the helm, following a remarkably consistent Openwave trend that the management teams of newly-acquired entities seem to take over for a few years shortly after acquisition. The ex-Avo execs then had their turn, taking over DPG and, briefly, technology strategy for the whole company. And then the SignalSoft crew came in and took over most of the infrastructure side of the business. And now the Magic4 crew are taking their turn.
But it's a very different company now, no longer driven by grand technological visions but by strict financial discipline - the pendulum has swung completely to the other side. The reign of the technologists was no paradise, let me tell you - the fate of UM being a case in point - and the dark period that ensued as the company faced financial reality was no fun at all. Among the worst memories was sitting in a room in Bellevue with my remaining ex-Avo coworkers and listening to our then-VP announce that everyone in the room was getting laid off except for a lucky three who had found a lifeboat.
Through all the changes, I was fortunate to be involved in two good projects to keep me occupied; to be exposed to a fascinating, global business, and an exceptional group of people spread across many countries; to travel to France and Japan and Italy and England and Atlanta (several times) to see things in action in the field; and to learn, a lot, about managing projects on a global scale, about stacks of technology previously unknown to me, about the peculiar, insular world of the global telecommunications industry.
A careful reader of this space will have noticed over the past couple months my disillusionment with the closed world of mobile communications technology, and its focus on useless services: the mobile Internet is but a pale and unsatisfying imitation of the real Internet, and so it shall remain as long as no room is allowed for people - just random geeks in the field - to write interesting, useful, communications-oriented applications for the mobile phone. The advent of rich scripting in the browser may help, but I can't help wondering if all the truly interesting features of that environment will end up castrated by some security policy or snuffed out in the process of being shoehorned into a billing model that doesn't fit the service.
So I'm off ... with a very special thanks to Reardon and Rob Williams who guided me through this adventure and entrusted me with running the fun and interesting projects that made it all worthwhile.