Dave is a tech industry pioneer. However, I believe the person who looks up to him most cares more about the man behind the code than the code itself. Ponzi loves Dave. Recently, she was given the opportunity to help furnish Dave’s new home in the Bay area. She wrote:

I’ve spent the past two days with a computer genius…we had a great time. I’ve spent the last hour and a half “processing.” The conversation was the kind you hope for and sometimes need but never “see” when it’s coming. I learned that Dave is a quick study and an eager student as well as a great teacher. It was fun teaching him what little I know. I watched his reaction to new thought patterns and saw it pleased him as much as it did me.

The conversation in between the furniture buying was priceless. We talked about the politics behind RSS, family, the philosophy of Buddhism, the fact that mixing patterns with stripes is really – okay, heart disease, health in the thirties verses health in the fifties, orange is a power color in the right shade, how people judge you by what they see you surround yourself with and my favorite – his brief affiliation with Joan Baez. lol – Don’t ask I won’t tell!

And Dave’s discussion at Gnomedex was equally as fun and insightful:

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Gnomedexer Eric (Richards) had this to say about Dave’s session:

Dave started by noting that it’s easier for the user to become a manufacturer than a manufacturer to become a user. What’s wrong with the manufacturers of the world? They come down from the mountain with their product for you to buy and worship, and then maybe two years later they return with the next product for you to buy and worship. Dave then asked the audience to think about how things have changed over the past ten, fifteen, twenty years, especially around travel and dealing with travel agents.

When it comes to making money, Dave dismissed ads on websites. Instead, the websites should be ads for ourselves and we should learn who shares common interests. An example he provided is Engadget: how long until Engadget is providing feedback to manufacturers around exactly what they & gadget lovers want? This would make manufacturers fulfillment houses for visionary users.

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