Comments on: the “digital nomads” thing heats up for hugh macleod

By: scott r

scott r — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:35:56 +0000

Hugh, great post. I’d love to hear more thoughts on “alignment.” I have seen many people here in Milwaukee chugging up hills on their fixed-gear bicycles who, despite looking absolutely miserable, are still happy because they are aligned with the coolness — despite being utterly impractical for 75% of the folks who ride them.

By: Bonnie Larner

Bonnie Larner — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 23:01:00 +0000

Looking forward to your book Hugh -
in a format I can place on a shelf
and run to for inspiration.
*Good Ideas have Lonely Childhoods.*
Terrific line,
bonnie

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 20:53:57 +0000

Marcus, judging from your rather ungracious and uninformed remark, I’m guessing you wouldn’t be able to recognize a real “creative”, even if he jumped on your lap and peed on you.

By: Marcus Dolittle

Marcus Dolittle — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:57:45 +0000

Yeah, but it’s only a Dell. Now if it was a real computer for creatives, like say an Apple, maybe it’d have some weight. Instead it’s just the Walmart of computers in another desperate attempt to be relevant, which it isn’t, except for some of the most cheaply made craptastic pieces of hardware only n00bs and fools would fall for (hence they’re huge with the corporate drone crowd).

By: John Ballantrae

John Ballantrae — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 21:44:17 +0000

What needs to happen to make all this more likely?
Dell is like Andy Warhol. Andy couldn’t break into the art establishment. He set up shop and let the world — and more than just the art world — begin to revolve around him. If Dell tries to take control and move the nomads in its considered direction, the company will alienate its nomad– supporters. The next step for the Internet will be characterized by relationships, but not typical power relationships like we have had for centuries. So, given that the best person to give orders is he or she who can take them, Dell should step back and be humble.

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:41:01 +0000

I interpreted .. someone upthread asked “why don’t you copyright the term ?”
Apologies etc. …

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:29:05 +0000

Hey Dragos, I checked on that. One of their online minions inadvertently stuck the TM symbol in there… it’s coming out.
Ummmm.… Jon Husband, the fact that you may even think that, I find baffling.
Thanks for the kind words, Everybody…

By: RKR

RKR — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:09:35 +0000

I always thought of you as a “Wandering Widgeter”…

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 16:56:17 +0000

I hope you are not suggesting you coined the term “digital nomad” .. it’s been around for quite a while.

By: Steven Kruyswijk

Steven Kruyswijk — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 08:43:36 +0000

I wanted to send you a tweet about this, but couldn’t find you there. I think I’ve figured something out from one of your genius comments at Les Blogs 2005:
Real people don’t scale, but people do.
As in: people, just as everything, are both real and imaginary. Which is a combination known from algebra to scale quite nicely.

By: cmessinger

cmessinger — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:46:04 +0000

The other side of this is of how deep Dell goes to promote this culture internally as part of their alignment? Could this go as deep as Abercrombie and Fitch, who build a campus out in the woods, where you bike to the office and sit around the fire pit in an alternative environment, or REI that reinforces their brand and culture all the way to the administrative staff?

By: dragos

dragos — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:12:13 +0000

By: gregorylent

gregorylent — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:12:33 +0000

here in bangalore dell is cool because i can choose my configuration. at the lenova store, or the hp store, i cannot. the second thing, design, the xps is cool.
but dated, and not on sale like in the usa.
i never dealt with dell before, they had a bad rep.
changed my mind. and yet they want to sell their factories. ok. they come, they go.
make big paintings, quit writing this marketing crap. anybody can do that. nobody can make the paintings you will make.
enjoy, gregory lent

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 04:59:34 +0000

Why don’t you copyright digital nomad?

By: Mike O'Meara

Mike O'Meara — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:16:25 +0000

I think Dell’s simply trying to tap in to the huge success of Asus’s eee PC, aka netbook. Last I read, I think they’ve moved over 2,000,000 of them, even Best Buy carries them now. Dell is finally seeing that sweet spot and the blog is one good way to expand that crowd.
The netbook niche fits a need travelers have needed for a long time. I’ve been lugging around way too many gadgets along with a big laptop for way too long, and now the web 2.0 apps are mature enough that a netbook is all I need on the road, and the big laptop is now essentially a desktop. I’ve gone from a massive backpack to a much smaller attache/camera bag, it kind of has a Kerouac-esque feel to it after lugging around a full-size laptop the past 10 years, a new sense of freedom.
I don’t have the traveling “digital nomad” lifestyle of Ester Dyson, but it’s a good feeling to be equipped for it.