Copycats often appear in other markets, both online and off. Most times they fail, but sometimes, just once, they do something new that makes all the other ones worth it.

I just hope that now they get the point and try something truly innovative, as you say, rather than continuing to come out with more of the same. We should be past that point now.

This conference was really the first I had attended that was not directly related to anything Oracle. My hopes were high as I expected a well-organized initiation into the best of what the Silly Valley now has to offer, perhaps a lot of new IT startups built on the empowering strengths of Open Source.

Instead, I walked away more jaded than ever. Here are a couple blog posts that nicely sum it up for me:

The Six Things You Can’t Say In Silicon Valley
http://www.valleywag.com/tech/modern-and-awkward/the-six-things-you-cant-say-in-silicon-valley-254190.php

Web Startups and the Lying Liars that Lie About Them
http://mashable.com/2007/04/21/web-startups-and-the-lying-liars-that-lie-about-them/

I’m hard-pressed to deny or dissuade the entrepreneurial spirit of The Valley; I’m envious of the guts and money that comprise it. But I was expecting that the next cycle of growth there would at least appear to be better rooted in real, genuine innovation – actual engineering, exciting new concepts in technology that could change how we make information available to each other….the very *networks* Chris has mentioned.

Instead, I got a lot of “monetization tactics”, “blogosphere mashup theory” and “eyeball gimmickry” – and an overwhelmingly sinking feeling that Web 2.0 really is just Web 1.0 spit-shined up and suitably automated for mass consumption. We’re still drinking last decade’s Kool Aid; only now, we’ve taken to drink /each others’/ Kool Aid. Socialization indeed.

So, I echo Chris’ pleas – we need bridges, not silos. Enough with the black box social networks already. Show me how I can integrate various multiple sites, each with a distinct function, and then maybe I’ll listen.

What did I take away from the conference in 50 words or less? A lot of people are adapting dinky old-school would-be client apps to the Web, trying to build business models around them in the name of “socialization”, while really all they’re doing is burning VC until the next market contraction or buyout, whichever comes first.

Heh! 49 words! I’ve got one credit left.

Bull$h!t.

I have difficulty reading my RSS feed that scrolls in front of me, much less stopping and going to another login!!

MM