There's nothing like a little criticism to spark reflection and introspection. Well, usually after a hefty dose of denial and defensiveness first. But we're all about community self actualization here so I thought I'd take this opportunity to open up the dialogue and invite your feedback--positive or constructive--on this site and our efforts in various new media forums across the web. Here goes.

Holding up the mirror
As a background, recently Open Port and our community managers received some criticism from the community-at-large that the site, and our technical experts, were too focused on marketing objectives. IT Blogger rodtrent on his myITForum.com blog complains that when he attempted to find vPro information on Open Port, he noticed in a discussion that the community was "inundated with responses from vendors about how their management product was the best." Additionally, in an Intel-sponsored forum on popular IT fansite Ars Technica a community member laments how he is tired of hearing the product name vPro in the forum.

So these criticisms are valid. We want you to know we hear you. And we wanted to ask more of you to join this conversation. What do you think? Are we "doing it right?" And by "it" I mean does Open Port enable tech enthusiasts and IT professionals like yourselves the opportunity to engage in technical discussions and connect with others who have similar interests in Intel technology?

The Nacho Analogy
In the spirit of engaged dialogue, I wanted to propose an analogy that might help frame the discussion. My colleague Bob Duffy came up with a brilliant one I thought I'd share with you. It has to do with nachos. He noticed that nearly every restaurant you visit includes nachos on their menu. And let's face it, some nachos are better than others, depending on the restaurant. So what makes a good nacho, you ask? Bob says it is the "cheese to chip ratio." The best nachos, Bob claims, have a well balanced ratio between cheese to chip. Too much cheese can drown the chip. And too much chip can be dry and difficult to swallow.

The same holds true, he argues, for commercial information in community conversations. Since this site is on Intel.com, there is going to be some element of cheese (aka marketing). But the chip (aka non-commercial information) is the foundation of the information that is shared among the community and should be the crux of the community conversations. So what is a good community chip-to-cheese ratio? Is it 20% commercial information (or marketing) and 80% technical data?

You decide. And while you're at it, can someone please figure out how to make the real cheese as liquidy and gooey as the fake cheese product they put on nachos?

In this podcast Intel's Malcolm Harkins and HP's Manny Novoa chat about the latest issues in security technologies, notably the emergence of hardware assisted virtualization.

With the emergence of software virtualization technologies, allowing for multiple OS's to be run on a single system, Manny and Malcom postulate security risks at the software layer. They discuss how hardware assisted virtualization can establish the management of platform controls and protection of keys at the hardware level, reducing the risk of virtualization systems being maliciously compromised.

They also discuss coping with zero-day threats and the benefits of automated management of PC fleets

Tune in 6:30 Monday 10/22/07


Chat live

The Social Media Club of Silicon Valley will be at Intel Headquarters on Monday October 22 from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. I will be one a many cool cats discussing Social Media and the Enterprise. If you can't attend watch the live webcast here.

The panel will be led by Shel Israel, co-author of “how blogs are changing the way businesses talk with customers” book with Robert Scoble.

Panel members will include:

• Dave McClure, 500 hats blogger,
• Jeremiah Owyang, social media researcher at Forrester
• Jennifer Jones, host of
• Eleanor Wynn is an Enterprise Architect, Social Computing and blogger at http://blogs.intel.com/it/authors#eleanor_wynn
• Bob Duffy, (the dude writing this post)Community Stratgist and site manager for Open Port

Also on hand will Bay Area NBC affiliate KNTV-TV, some smart folks from Bay Area NBC affiliate KNTV-TV, and some familiar voices from this web site (Open Port), on hand to do a bit of show and tell.

Register to attend the event here and add it to your Upcoming events listing here.

If you can make it in person come back to this post to watch and post your questions live.

First let me say I'm not on the inside track with Moorestown. I'm an outside observer with my own perspective on this product, but I have to say... I think this will be HUGE. Lot's of talk about the Moorestown platform at IDF this year and I've heard many refer to this as the iPhone killer, or next generation iPhone. The game changer is size, the processing power, and WiMax capabilities. This is much more than anything in the market now. It can be almost anything you want it to be, and what you want it to do might be more about what devices it talks to. Here's my personal speculation on potential uses for Moorestown.

Harmony Remote Killer: This one is easy. Unlike the iphone with this kind of device you should be able to add and download applications and be configure to do pretty much what you want it to do. It's the size of a remote. It has bluetooth and WiMax. It should be able to talk to all of your AV stuff and replace your most advanced universal remotes.

GameBoy/PSP Killer: This be will run on Intel’s next generation 45nm chips. It should far exceed anything any hand held game system can do today. You could host games on the fly with people near you or host over the Internet. I actually believe this could be an XBox Killer. It will have the horsepower, it will be ultimately connected. It just needs peripherals like a dock or wireless connectivity to a large display and keyboard. Drop it on your coffee table, turn on your wall mounted LCD, pick up a wireless controller and you are gaming.

Desktop Killer: Yes, a desktop killer. Again it should have the horsepower. It will have highspeed connections and a full blown browser. More and more apps are moving to the web. There's a lot of talk about the death of the application, as applications can be run in the browser. Drop it on your desk, have it detect and synch with your wireless keyboard, mouse and monitor and you are working. Also more IT shops are starting to see the value of OS and application streaming technology where you can pull down the apps you need when you need them. Edit a spreadsheet, crop a photo, do a CAD Design, all apps come from the network when you need them, wherever you are.

Storage may only an issue for the few things you need locally. With WiMax, songs, videos, applications could all be available at your finger tips whether you have them stored on your PC, DVR, or from a service provider. You could ultimately have any data or any application on a powerful mobile device on your hip, in your pocket or in your purse.

My perspective is Moorestown is shaping up to be the ubiquitous everything device. I discussed this idea 2 years ago with an Intel engineer, during a school fundraiser. I claimed if Intel could create the device the size of cell phone with the processing power of a PC, you would not need any other device other than peripherals. I was new, I was in marketing and he thought I was nuts. And he pretty much told me so, citing that he didn't see how Intel would profit from it. A couple of weeks later I saw him again and he was anxious to tell me he just saw a presentation that discussed exactly what I was talking about. I'd like to think this is Moorestown... and personally I can't wait!!

Veodia streamed all panel discussions during Office2.0 in SF last week. Cool service, you can sign up for a free trial and start video blogging.

Here's a session of the panel discussion Intel joined with WebEx, SAP, and Leverage Software at Office 2.0 to discuss Online Communities and our strategy with Open Port. Coolest part, during my introduction I asked how many people were blogging... half the room raised hands (submit a name to start the video)

Taking it to the next level at IDF! On September 18th at 3pm we use Ustream to embed a live stream with chat within IT@Intel