hey dave, with all due respect, couldn't agree less (or more; I usually have trouble identifying which side you're in... lol) with this week's article :o) for the last several posts there seems to be a pattern in your articles of "good vs evil", "humans vs technology", "hearts against machines"... Well, being myself a technology-marketer, I use to think differently. See, Skype is not about technology per-si. Not at all! It's about using technology to empower people's communication. To give you a personal example: I live 2000 miles from my family and nonetheless I can keep in touch with them very frequently. My mom has 74 years old, and loves to talk with family and friends on MSN, it's a lot of fun! Would I be able to keep in touch with them without Skype? Yes, very likely, planes still exist... Was Napster so revolutionary because it's intricate and cryptic P2P protocol or because it enabled millions of thousands of anonymous to share parts of our own lives through music and videos? Was YouTube so revolutionary because it's search engine technology or because it made true Andy Warhol's predictions in the sixties? The central question still is (and I dare to say it'll ever be) around PEOPLE. It's the human being that matters to human beings. But, IMHO, ­undoubtfully the real innovation in the last 15 years came from technology. Thanks to technology now we can celebrate father's day with our daughters 2000 miles from home, or find soulmates at DC++, to create instant communities at twitter, strengthen bonds and share emotions with friends in MySpace/Orkut/MyFaces, or dig into the sea of information at wikipedia, which all in the end of the day makes all us better human beings. Let's not lose the focus on people because it's the ultimate reason for our journey, but keep technology flowing because it's the vital spark for our innovation. take care! gui ambros

hmmm Albert, he's great for soundbites,and a spot of mathematics "Problems cannot be solved by thinking within the framework in which the problems were created." But I beg to differ here..our problems(oops sorry-opportunities in 21st century speak!),issues and everything else were created in a framework - our minds! And whilst some of us enjoy trying to get out of them every Friday night - we can't, they are our framework. It's just maybe the "imaginers" explore their framworks more thoroughly. I ramble..back to the point! Does and every idea have to drive a solution - No! some are what they are, just ideas.Some good, and we act on them. Some bad, and we act on them. But don't limit the technology imaginers to a "driving a solution" requirement ...unless you're a shareholder ! "Long live failure trying" not sure who said that, maybe it was one of those Boo.Com chaps!

Sorry for the late response -- lots of travel -- great comments -- not sure what I agree.disagree with -- The framework of our minds!! what a concept -- I love it -- and Guilherme seems w are saying teh same thing..or not