Paul Boutin

Hard to believe it’s been five years since Owen Thomas launched Ditherati, his daily posting of self-incriminating quotes from the pundits and power players among the then-new digital aristocracy. “See the digerati dither, daily” was Owen’s tagline, and he’s followed through on that daily commitment with a reliability not seen since Herb Caen left us.

This Saturday my wife Christina and I will host “Ditherati 5.0,” a 90s-style cocktail loft party in Owen’s honor. There’ll be lots of journalists and PR people there, but Ditherati fans of all stripes are welcome. If you’ll be in the area and want to come to the party, email me.

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D I T H E R A T I for 12 June 1997

LATE, REALLY LATE, THERE-GOES-MY-KARMA CAPITALISM

“The new enlightenment is money.”

Gita Mehta, Forbes, 16 June 1997

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D I T H E R A T I for 3 March 1998

KISS AND MAKE UP WITH YOUR BROWSER, PAUL — YOU NEED THE HITS

“We told you to kiss your browser goodbye. Maybe we
should rephrase that.”

Paul Boutin, who was part of the push cabal behind
Wired Digital’s ill-fated LiveWired project, taking
the “er” out of “hacker,” Wired, March 1998

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D I T H E R A T I for 13 May 2002

WHO PUT THE D.O.J. ON OUR BUDDY LIST?

“Interoperability conversations need to take place among the big
three. Any other interoperability is secondary.”

Yahoo executive Geoff Ralston, on the urgent need to exclude
smaller competitors from standards discussions, News.com, 13
May 2002