dig through the ditches and burn through the witches

First I was bemoaning the earliness of the hour--the closing keynote address of Mitch Kapor, new CEO of Linden Research, will be at nine in the friggin' morning (SLT).

Then I read the blog entry. Now? The address being at nine in the aye-migodstooearly-em is the least of my concerns.

I quote from the original blog posting (in case they catch this later and revise).

(All emphasis is mine.)


SL5B Closing Keynote by Mitch Kapor: Monday 9am PST

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 5:38 PM
by: Everett Linden

Capping off SL5B, Linden Lab board member Mitch Kapor will deliver a keynote address about Second Life as a disruptive technology platform. In addition to SL as a creative, social space, he will discuss the emergence of SL for broader uses such as education, philanthropy, art, fashion, medical research, architecture and design, science, and entertainment. The speech will be held at the Main Stage.

We know there is a lot of speculation about Mitch’s announcement…some of it is good tongue-in-cheek, some of it raising expectations.

To put to rest to some of that speculation—Mitch’s announcement will not be about strategic nor business issues regarding Linden Lab.

Mitch’s announcement will be about a new program that recognizes the achievements of Residents in making Second Life a disruptive technology platform.

We will have video and audio feeds that we will post prior to the event, and like the opening event, we will provide transcripts, audio and video archives for download.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the birthday events. All are listed on the SL5B wiki.

Two problems with this.

First, the dictionary definition of disruptive:

dis·rupt
\dis-ˈrəpt\

Function: transitive verb

Etymology: Latin disruptus, past participle of disrumpere, from dis- + rumpere to break — more at reave

Date: 1793

1 a: to break apart : rupture
b: to throw into disorder 2: to interrupt the normal course or unity of

Second, Wikipedia has a separate definition, while also implying that this existing definition doesn't apply, because the understandable definition of disruptive technologies are mythological.

Is it any surprise this comes from Everett Linden? Seems everything that's damaging SL's reputation right now is coming from Everett...Frontier is so off the hook...

Well, almost.