...is it only gets worse" Bruce Cockburn

Finally back online and, dammit, every second of DSL is highly appreciated. I drink it in like fine champagne.

So, what has happened? Loads and nothing...I have 500 entries in my bloglines, let alone the interesting stuff that each entry is linking to. I'm pretty sure the world is still spinning. I resorted to some reaching out via my SMS this afternoon, which was warmly received by people whose lives continued on as normal. Nothing earth shattering. I'll return and hardly anyone will even know I was gone at all.

No, not feeling sorry for myself, just making an observation.

Over dinner tonight with my parents, there was a little lightbulb moment for both of us. For them, it was, "Gee, don't need to buy Norton Anti-virus if we use Firefox/Flock, etc. and don't open any emails from people we don't recognize." For me, it was, "Gee, otherwise, nobody in the real world gives a shit about open source, social networks and my so-called life online stuff." Even my parents, who I would think would be fascinated by it. Ha.

LOL.

So, then I think, what would it take to make the world care? Why would anyone who has a pretty decent life offline see any benefit of moving photos, journaling, communicating, etc. online? Why would anyone who isn't invested in the proliferation of online communication care about or want to participate in any of this at all?

Well, they wouldn't...currently. Okay...so I don't know what the answer is, what the golden ring will be, but we aren't even close to the tipping point yet. Egad, even I don't know how to explain it so that it convinces me!? Who does that remind me of? ;)

I think I need a gameplan: a list of 10 things I want to see happen (easy), a list of 5 reasons for each why anyone else should give a crap (harder), and a call out for more lists of how it will be accomplished. When I said to my mom dad that their issues with the anti-virus software slowing down their computers and causing all sorts of grief would be alleviated by merely switching browsers and being more careful with their email, they became interested. Otherwise, I must have sounded like a raving lunatic talking in a strange, inaccessible language (which, my engineer brother pointed out was what we talk in - he asked, "WTF is a podcast?" "Why not just call it internet radio?").

Gameplan. Yes. First, tomorrow I will shop for cheap Canadian low-taxed items. Then, a gameplan.

technorati tags: inspiredbymomanddad, chrismessina, normalsucks, wtf, opensource, mafia