Google bum chum and dinosaur Tim O’Reilly in a desperate attempt to gain publicity for his defunct Web 2.0 Is Dead Conference embarrassed Apple CEO Steve Jobs publicly by saying Apple needs to be open. The conference itself is not open to everyone. The misguided move is backfiring badly.

The conference is being sponsored by Adobe, Cisco, Juniper, Microsoft, Paypal, Ericsson and the German Government – who should be embarrassed to sponsor O’Reilly given his archaic and despicable views. The world has change and narrow minded individuals like O’Reilly are not ready to accept that.

In an idiotic ploy to get Steve Jobs to speak at the Web 2.0 Is Dead Conference, O’Reilly and his pal are creating a false controversy saying that Apple needs to be open and that Apple needs to do that at their conference. Adobe is a major sponsor of O’Reilly and O’Reilly is asking Steve Jobs to speak at an event that is being sponsored by a company that Apple is making irrelevant. So whose’s interest is he advancing the public or his and Adobe’s?

Gone are the days when the industry used to look to the likes of self professed demagogues like O’Reilly. Today the individual is in charge and Steve Jobs knows that. He pays attention to those who buy Apple products. Web 2.0 Is Dead and it is not only self serving but a disservice to peddle the same old garbage every year, simply to make a buck. The future is social media, that is where the new jobs are for practitioners. Just as search dislocated dollars from traditional advertising and shifted it to digital and created hundreds of thousands of  search marketing and optimization jobs – social media is dislocating dollars from many traditional sources like pr, communications, customer support, advertising and marketing. There will be hundreds of thousands of jobs if not millions created as dollars shift to social business. It is a better bet to invest in social media skills.

Here are people’s reaction had to the post. You can read them all here.

Mark Hasper says:
Oh, fuck right off with your $4,000 dilettante “open” Web summit. I sincerely hope Apple sees through this awkward and inept attempt at self promotion.

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to find that this comment does not make it past the “open” filtration of your moderator.

Anna Kaplan says:
Why the heck would Steve Jobs attend an event filled with a hostile audience? Would you make attendance “open”? Will Tim OReilly make his books “openly available”? Will he give out invitations to Foo Camp “openly”?

No, of course not…

Huund says:
While I agree that Apple acts very secretive the letters fails to convince me why this is bad, and more importantly, why participating in the Web 2.0 Summit would do anything for Apple. In fact, it reads mostly self-serving by trying to attract Apple for the sake of the summit rather than otherwise, as it pretends. If Apple wants to talk to any of the other participants it can do so in private, don’t you think?

Joseph says:
Wired wants to promote its own conference by having Apple attend, so why not just say so? Pretending your concern is for Apple’s benefit is extremely lame.

fjpoblam says:
Good luck, and don’t hold yer breath. (I suspect yer not.) AAPL has become (by necessity?) like IBM, MSFT, and GOOG in their times: brick walls to users, inaccessible, and unresponsive even to grouped appeals.

As you’ve noticed, AAPL had no response of any sort (written or otherwise) to the many who objected to various forms of censorship.

AAPL customers could vote with their $, but do you think enough of them would? Therein lies the rub.

Mark Hernandez says:
What we have here with this open letter is a classic example of human beings (emotional and psychological creatures) at odds with the overwhelming Information Age and the cold and calculating Business World. The result, as usual, is a big mess of confusion that draws all kinds of other confused people into the swirl, getting upset and saying crazy things that defy logic and reason.

However, it’s great that so many commenters are NOT confused, so far, and can see through this ploy, but it can turn crazy at any time.

It’s fascinating that so many people in the tech industry have such trouble understanding it and dealing with it.

rd says:
As far as attending Web 2.0.
Apple doesn’t have time for Tim O’s
BS. Instead they work on real standards
with real technologies and not fashion statements.

DainiusAuthor Profile Page says:
It’s a nice post, but it’s going to be Apple’s way or no other way. And I kind of understand it, because Apple is like writer or painter. Why should they come to the conference to explain themselves?

Koenig says:
John and Tim,

This is a fairly pathetic attempt to lure Apple into participation and quite frankly down right embarrassing… for you.

Apple has every right to protect itself and the share holders it represents. You are right. Apple is no longer the underdog, grasping to survive or take any opportunity it is given. It is vibrant, creative, meticulous and yes, unabashedly controlling.

Honest Apple loyalists understand the complexity of the company and the strict boundaries it must now operate under, and you should too.

It’s time to grow up, Apple has!

Don Linn says:
Create a villain. Accuse villain of (fill in blank). Build false controversy. Use controversy to promote your end.

A cheap shot strategy from time immemorial. It won’t bting Apple to your overpriced conference and it diminishes the strategy’s authors.

rd says:
What Tim O’reilly doesn’t like is that
Apple is not in the Cloud.
even though they have iTunes in the cloud.
MobileMe in the cloud.

Apple doesn’t use Tim O’reily’s approved
buzzwords.

Tim has already forecast that Android is be all
and end all of mobile computing.
So why would Mr. O’reilly want to help Apple in any way at all.

Corporations and Technorotti are no longer
able to dictate what technology is adapted by
the general public. This is their problem and lost of control.

Jim says:
I hit John and Tim on Twitter over this misguided post, but figured I’d come here too and just observe that this is the worst kind of arrogance and self indulgence on display. I wouldn’t be surprised if John, for one, already regrets it.

Apple is making wildly popular products, the best in the company’s storied history – without question – its management team is solid and its stock has been on a, more or less, straight shot to the moon since around the time the iPod started flying out of Apple Stores, on wings not made of pastrami. The company’s most important relationship is with its customers, and it is delivering time and again, with authority, integrity and, dare I say, genius.

But, according to this post, that’s not good enough. No, Apple needs to be more “open,” they need to be attending meaningless conferences and blathering on about the ecosystem and what’s next and showing their hands to the people who chatter on about iPod/iPhone and iPad killers in a tone that seems almost aspirational. In short, according to this, they need to play the game.

No, John and Tim, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they don’t. You guys, on the other hand, do need to do something.

You need to get over yourselves.

You can read more here.

 Channels: idiot, racist, tim oreilly