In another absolutely astonishing podcast, Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte dropped the bombshell that Vista's new TCP/IP stack is, for the first time since at least Windows 2000, really, totally new.

(Take it from me, you really have to listen to this podcast. Now. Just go do it.)

Gibson's point, subtle as a brick hitting you on the head, is that brand new is the antithesis of secure. Think about it: you get to reintroduce problems that you'd fixed in the old stack. And you get to make lots of new problems.

You can listen to the podcast for details (that's the third plug. Can you tell I am a fan?)

But what stuck with me from the show applies to more than just TCP/IP stacks. To paraphrase Gibson, security is proved, not claimed. He makes mincemeat of any claim from a vendor that contains both "new" and "most secure ever." Think about it.

Score one for those who think shiny new isn't the best. Maybe I'm sympathetic simply because I've passed through the treadware warranty period. But I do believe that you have to have some scars, some gravitas, to be able to help clients navigate the technology marketing space today.

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One of our clients sent me this link to a blog entry on how the Internet has changed sales and marketing for technology companies.

All I can say is, quod erat demonstrandum, also phrased as "we couldn't agree more."

But…and this is a big but…knowing that the game has changed completely and knowing what actual, physical things to do to take advantage of this titanic shift are two different things.

I hope I don't sound too pompous when I say that that's what AgencyNext is all about: the real-life things you do in your marketing and PR that are native to this new state of marketing for startups.

We've recently seen clients who are stuck between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, they know the game has changed. On the other they simply don't have the courage to ditch old-style marketing and move on.

I understand that reluctance. You need ice in your veins to do what it takes today to rise above the noise, to realize that you only get the call after the prospect has learned enough to want to qualify you, to know that when a customer calls or contacts you, you are being tested with questions that have been formed online.

But, it's the essence of technology marketing today, the essence of what we are doing at AgencyNext.

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It's not easy being Wikipedia, a free web encyclopedia created and edited by anonymous contributors. Just ask founder Jimmy Wales, who has seen his creation come under fire as the site fends off vandalism and charges of inaccurate entries. But Wikipedia, founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization, has become a big enough presence that it raises a number of interesting questions. Just how accurate is free content? Does the aggregate 'wisdom of the crowd' trump the expertise of knowledgeable individuals? Do the policing mechanisms that are in place really work?  

I think the controversy over Wikipedia merely reflects further tension between old and new media. Newspapers are suffering, music publishers are litigating - advertising dollars are floating from place to place, looking for safe harbor. Presently, media consumers are drowning in a sea of information, unsure of what's trustworthy and what's false…unsure of how to process all the data.

Hey, no one ever said revolutions were easy.

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