Freezing cold, no Internet, boring: it's a French web 2.0 conference

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/10/startups-internet

by danw • 18 years ago

171 69 18 years ago

guardian.co.uk

gruseom3• 18 years ago

Upmodded for this splendid morsel of malicious British wit:

That's right — LeWeb was entirely without the web. Which I suppose makes it simply "Le".

ErrantX4• 18 years ago

I do love our humor.

Classic quote #2:

"skipped out to the car park where a Finnish startup had had the remarkable foresight to install a functioning sauna"

greyman• 18 years ago

Good writing, but the mutual animosity between France and Britain is itself funny, if not a bit childish. No flame, but my impression is that both countries lost their past influence and glory, but none of them would admit that. ;-)

cabalamat2• 18 years ago

This bit's good too:

Day one's keynote firesider was Paulo Coelho — the favourite author of that girl you met on the first day of university who spent her gap year in Thailand and like totally found herself. "Everyone has something interesting to say," Coelho said at one point, clearly showing that he's never had a conversation with one of his fans.

scott_s• 18 years ago

I skimmed over that until I thought "Coelho" is a strange name. Then I realized he wrote The Alchemist, which I read at the behest of a girl that pretty much fits that description.

lionhearted• 18 years ago

I'm cracking up laughing here. Here's some perspective for my fellows 'mericans who haven't been to this part of the world. English people love to pan everything French for any reason whatsoever. Most English folk will openly say, "I hate the French" - they don't actually hate the French. It's just that they really, really get off on having a laugh at anything and everything French.

I was cracking up laughing when I saw the headline - and then saw it was from the Guardian. The article's probably all correct, but the really gratuitous tone the author takes, like he's glad the conference was a mess because it made him able to write this article hardcore "taking the piss" out of the conference? Yup, it's an England thing :) I love it, and mind you, I'm a quarter French and a quarter English so I'm pretty neutral in the whole affair.

peakok• 18 years ago

I'm French and I enjoyed the article. This Loic LeMeur guy has always been a self-proclaimed ambassador of whatever he wants, but he's just blow hard. He needs the bad press so he'll disappear sooner (I hope so).

And you're right about the gratuitious French bashing, it's a cultural thing and it takes part on both sides of the Channel, there's nothing to be offended about, it's funny if you take the right stance.

staunch• 18 years ago

Loic LeMeur is the European answer to Jason Calacanis.

fallentimes5• 18 years ago

If it makes you feel better his startup his failing badly.

vorador• 18 years ago

You're wrong ! Loïc LeMeur created the Web 3.0 !

michaelneale2• 18 years ago

Yes it makes for some great laughs. I am a fan of "Yes Prime Minister":

Humphrey: "If the French have the bomb, we must have the bomb" PM: "But isn't the Russians we are worried about"? Humphrey: "well yes, right now, but what about the last 1000 years?"

patio112• 18 years ago

I think there is a similar streak in the American national character (although I we'd probably phrase it as "I hate France", which is a distinction with a difference). Freedom fries, etc. We know we've been bffs for a few hundred years now and if someone attacked France the same folks who voted for "freedom fries" would be the first ones suggesting we come to France's aid.

They would add "Like we always do", of course, and give France guff about it for the next century or so. But we kid because we love 'em, even though they are cheese-eating surrender monkeys. (Google it.)

PieSquared• 18 years ago

Yup, that's true... Such as this: Go to google, type in "french military victories", and press I'm feeling lucky. It takes you to a french parody site, suggesting that you meant "french military defeats".

ObieJazz• 18 years ago

There's an even stronger streak with regard to Canada. Jon Stewart the other day said that Canada's chief national export is "jokes that they are the butt of."

ErrantX4• 18 years ago

This is so true :)

I love french people personally (sorta). But to admit to it in the UK is still a hangable offence you know!

And us brits wonder why people dont get our humor "lets be really rude to them! good joke yes?? haw haw" ;) :D

FraaJad2• 18 years ago

Brit and you say "humor"? I doubt it old chap.

gaius3• 18 years ago

"A war with France is traditional, but with Paris, unthinkable" -- Jane Austen (IIRC)

mattmaroon• 18 years ago

We Americans do too. In high school my history teacher liked to ask the French students "how do you say I surrender in French?" We hold WWII over them the way you do Waterloo.

Some take it too far and start using the term "Freedom Fries".

lawrence• 18 years ago

That was the best conference write up I've ever seen.

ojbyrne2• 18 years ago

Personal reminiscences warning: One of the weird things about my digg experiences was where I sat in the conference hierarchy. Kevin would go to London (FOWA), Paris (LeWeb), etc, and listen to a bunch of other fake people talk about fake stuff. They sent me to 2 conferences. Webmasterworld in Las Vegas, which was all SEO, lots of hustlers, the best party I've ever been to (a Yahoo party in the Hugh Hefner suite at the Palms), met Matt Cutts; and then they sent me to Reflection/Projections in Urbana-Champaign (why would we want to go there?) - which included Steve Yegge and Randall Monroe (XKCD), and was probably the best conference I've ever been to. You pose, poseurs gather around you. You get pushed into the background, you meet lots of interesting people.

unalone• 18 years ago

I'm guessing you don't have the fondest recollections of the Digg team? (Not trying to be snarky: I just don't recall ever reading you talk directly about Digg before.)

ojbyrne2• 18 years ago

I have good memories of most of the people I worked with there (in fact engineer no. 2 now works for me). The 2 people at the top I have zero respect for.

petercooper2• 18 years ago

You're right.

Webmasterworld's Pubcons are awesome. I'm a writer, a programmer, whatever, but the energy of the people in the SEO and marketing world is contagious and they put on excellent events. Any grandstanding is all in good fun unlike when you get a bunch of passive aggressive programmers together.

amohr• 18 years ago

Reflections/Projections is consistently a good time. The year before that one, I saw Yale Patt, the guys from Rooster Teeth (Red vs. Blue), Max Levchin, Jawed Kareem, and Joel Spolsky - that was a pretty exciting weekend. And there's a job fair one day so there's all sorts of recruiters, which means all sorts of free food/drink!

vaksel• 18 years ago

why is France the face of European tech scene? Shouldn't Britain have that job? I mean for Brits its easy as hell to release world wide apps since English is so popular.

markessien2• 18 years ago

No, Germany should be actually.

david927• 18 years ago

I agree. Germany has the best scene. Someone should organize something in Berlin.

gaius3• 18 years ago

It's very difficult to start a company in Germany. You need X amount of capital and masses of paperwork, etc. Talinn in Estonia should probably be the European startup capital.

tarkin2• 18 years ago

I like how the article descends into a rant about how it would all be a lot better if we all just got drunk, a typically British answer to just about anything.

dant• 18 years ago

You make it sound like that's a bad thing.

akshaye• 18 years ago

Hugh's take: http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/004739.html

petercooper2• 18 years ago

Just to save readers 10 seconds. All Hugh says is: "It's been an intense but fun couple of days." That's it.

prakash3• 18 years ago

Absolutely fantastic! For a moment there, I though this article was actually a skit on A bit of Fry & Laurie.

This quote specifically: And even more satisfying than all of that is the fact that the idea of a huge state-sponsored piss-up is such an anathema to Americans that there's no way they can outdo us

iron_ball• 18 years ago

Our drunken bouts are all the result of good hard-working private industry. The government will get our rye whiskey when they pump it from our cold dead stomachs!

Ras_• 18 years ago

Sauna and licorice vodka!

Finnish Tourist Board approves of this message.

nihilocrat2• 18 years ago

A web 2.0 conference with no Internet access?

Actually, a conference occuring sometime this century with no Internet access?

He's joking, right?

babul• 18 years ago

Paul Carr is just as funny, yet honest, in person (especially after a pint at DrinkTank http://blog.huddle.net/?c=DrinkTank or such).

Twitter gives a good flavour http://twitter.com/paulcarr.

Freezing cold, no Internet, boring: it's a French web 2.0 conference

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