Six Apart exec on LiveJournal founder: "Waaaaay down the path to madness"

Owen Thomas — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Brad Fitzpatrick has a Googlephone, and you don't. And what's he doing with his amazing Android-powered toy? Using Google's mobile operating system, Fitzpatrick is coding an automatic garage-door opener, which senses the presence of his phone using Wi-Fi. He can do this because he's already hooked his garage door up to a Web server. Writes Six Apart executive Michael Sippey on this momentous occasion:

If you've already hooked up a Web server to your garage door opener you're waaaaay down the path to madness, so you know, why the hell not build a mobile app to control it?

Sippey should be aware of just how far down the path to madness Fitzpatrick is; the two worked together until last year, when Fitzpatrick left to join Google and Six Apart sold LiveJournal to the Russians.

Meanwhile, in the real world of business

Owen Thomas — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:08:16 EDT

The Web 2.0 startups featured at TechCrunch40 are adorable, really. But they can't compete with the draw of a real business with real, paying customers, Six Apart executive Michael Sippey points out: "Around the corner from tc40 there are 7000 people at salesforce.com's conference." Salesforce.com, unlike most of the startups on display at TechCrunch40, dares to charge for its Web-based software — a recipe for disaster, according to TechCrunch40 organizer Michael Arrington. Right. If you consider half a billion dollars in annual revenues to be a disaster, that is.

Gawker: valleywag, michael sippey

Six Apart exec on LiveJournal founder: "Waaaaay down the path to madness"

Meanwhile, in the real world of business