In a very polite, Canadian-like way, the Telecom Review Panel is recommending that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission be overhauled - one of the key findings of a three-person panel charged to create a blueprint for the future of the country's $32-billion telecom industry. While these recommendations may never see the light of day, the suggestion the CRTC needs to step a major step back and allow market forces to rule the day is an idea whose time has come. You can check out my column in today's National Post.

First, Michael Robertson took on the music industry with MP3.com; then he went after Windows with Linspire; then he went after the telephone industry with Gizmo; now he wants to do a Don Quixote on Microsoft Word with ajaxWrite. ajaxWrite does appear to be revolutionary: it's a Web-based word processing service accessed through a browser, which Robertson claims meets the needs of "90% of people in the world". What's intriguing is it's free, which prompted Om Malik question whether there is a business model. Then again, Robertson's much more of an ideas guy than a business guy. He seems to get his entrepreneurial buzz by thumbing his nose at the powers that be even it gets him in trouble and doesn't lead to a financial bonanza. Maybe ajaxWrite will be enthusiastically embraced but what's the end game here: its purchase by Google, Microsoft, Yahoo? That way I see it, the Web-based word processing prize has already been snapped up with the acquisition of Writely by Google. Having used Writely extensively over the past couple of months to organize the mesh conference, Writely resonates because it has that little something different - the ability to collaborate with other people on documents online. I give Robertson credit for doing something to shake things up but this may be more of a good idea than a good business.

What started a couple months ago as one of those animated “wouldn’t it be great to have a Web 2.0 conference in Toronto” conversations in a pub has finally become a reality with the (official) launch of mesh.
So what is mesh? It’s a two-day conversation about how the Web is impacting the media, public relations/marketing, business/finance and politics/society. To be honest, we have been humbled by the enthusiasm expressed by some of the top Web 2.0 voices such as Om Malik, Tara Hunt, Paul Kedrosky, Steve Rubel, Michael Geist, Jason Fried, Andrew Baron, Andrew Coyne and Amber MacArthur to participate. We've also got some fantastic sponsors to help make this conference as good as it can be.
When is mesh? It's happening May 15/16 in Toronto at the MaRS Collaboration Centre. You can register by visiting out Web site, which just went live.
Who's behind mesh? Well, there's myself, Globe & Mail reporter Mathew Ingram, Web 2.0 entrepreneur Michael Mcderment, business lawyer Rob Hyndman and Expedia.ca founder Stuart Macdonald.
Come and join us; it's going to be a great way to immerse yourself in everything Web 2.0.
Update: Check out some of the early blogosphere buzz from Tara Hunt, Steve Rubel, David Crow, Stowe Boyd and Peter Dawson.
Tags: mesh, conference, toronto