Supernova 2004 midterm update

I'm at the Supernova 2004 conference at the moment.  I'm scribbling notes as I go, and plan to go back and cohere the highlights into a post-conference writeup.  First impressions:  Lots of smart and articulate people here, both on the panels and in the 'audience'.  I wish there were more time for audience participation, though there is plenty of time for informal interactions between and after sessions.  The more panel-like sessions are better than the formal presentations.

The Syndication Nation panel had some good points, but it ratholed a bit on standard issues and would have benefited from a longer term/wider vision.  How to pay for content is important, but it's a well trodden area.  We could just give it a code name, like a chess opening, and save a lot of discussion time...

I am interested in the Autonomic Computing discussion and related topics, if for no other reason than we really need to be able to focus smart people on something other than how to handle and recover from system issues.  It's addressing the technical complexity problem.

Next problem: The legal complexity problem (IP vs. IP: Intellectual Property Meets the Internet Protocol) - I think this problem is far harder because it's political.  There's no good solution in sight for how to deal with the disruptions technology are causing business models and the structure of IP law.

And, on a minor note, I learned the correct pronunciation of Esther Dyson's first name.