John Dvoark has a great column on Marketwatch titled:

Web 2.0 showing signs of Bubble 2.0 already | Commentary: Everything is about exit strategies, not good products

This really hit home. Attensa is right in the "Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0" cone. We've had several "contemplate your navel" marketing/sales department debates on whether to sponsor the Web 2.0 Expo this year. We just came back from ETech and we came to the realization there are two kinds of conferences. One has pundits and the other has punters (not terribly complementary Brit slang for customers - no disrespect intended we just like the alliteration. Really, we love our customers. Really).

This week we took a pass on the Web 2.0 echo chamber and we opted for punters. We're glad we did. We are attending the AIIM conference this week which is focused on enterprise content management and printing systems. Big machines, big players (IBM, Microsoft, ECM, Adobe, Canon, HP, Oracle and more) and big attendees (Boeing, Bank of America, Proctor and Gamble, Intuit to name a few) with big ideas and big plans for integrating enterprise RSS into document management workflow's.

Here's John's on the Web 2.0 Expo.

"From what I could tell, it was an event for people who wanted to get rich quick in tech and get out quick. Oh, and it was obviously for people between the ages of 22 and 29. If you are over 30, you're already a loser."

And here are mine:

At AIIM, quite the opposite, real business people,focused on enterprise content management and printing systems. Big machines, big players (IBM, Microsoft, Documentum, Adobe, Canon, HP, Oracle) and attendees with big pockets for the right products.

Look real people with gray hair, suits and decision making authority solving real content management and workflow problems.

As I see it, people who are interested in buying stuff like this (I have no idea what this is but it sure looks important) are interested in tackling content management and output problems with a vengeance.

Here's John on Web 2.0 Expo again.

"...the sheer number of people (thousands) that sat patiently in the large keynote auditorium, while speakers droned on and on about nothing, was more than a little creepy. Bring back Werner Erhard!"

"The event itself was characterized by sessions that did nothing more than discuss "exit strategies." Hey boys and girls, how about making a good product before getting into exit strategies? Is that asking too much?"

"I don't recall seeing something about customer satisfaction, but plenty about customer acquisition."

As for me, an EST graduate who back in the day paid my $1000 to "Get It." I couldn't agree more. Bring Back Werner Erhard! I think Attensa "Gets It." It's not about exit strategies. It's about building things like the Attensa Feed Server to get put web feed workflow to work.