In an update on Signiant's Digital Media Galaxy blog, Chief Strategy Officer Tom Ohanian looks back 17 years to his first IBC.
Back then, he was at Avid, and they were getting busy in Europe, shaking up the world of editing with the PAL version of Media Composer.
In 2008, media production and content publishing are experiencing a different kind of busy, as companies try to solve bigger, company-wide challenges in the management and distribution of digital media.
The Register - I met Microsoft's Principal Researcher, Bill Buxton, several times when I worked for independent technology reseller Tyrell and he was Chief Scientist at Alias Wavefront. He was a good friend of one of Tyrell's owners.
It was around the time he appeared in this pair of promos for Maya. You may remember them playing on the video screens attached to the back of Las Vegas cab seats during NAB in, I think, 2000 or 2001.
Bill Buxton Eye Popping Maya promo
Bill Buxton Head Exploding Maya promo
He struck me as an inspirational character whose quirky approach to corporate life shook up the status quo and got things done.
In this article, he talks about joining Microsoft to help the company compete with Apple's industrial design-led philosophy.
Apple has demonstrated the advantage of controlling hardware and software from end to end, whereas Microsoft depends on third-parties. Can Microsoft ever achieve the quality it needs without changing the way it works with its partners?
At IBC this year, did you bump into somebody you hadn't seen in a while? Maybe for years? A former colleague, customer or supplier?
Neither of you had a card, or a pen ... or a clue where you were, what time of day or night it was, or how on earth you were going to get back to your hotel?
Don't worry, it happens to the best of us.
If you want to use "Why IBC?" as a kind of impromptu Colleagues Reunited service, email me some details and let's see if "Why IBC?" can help put you back together.
