I'm not sure what it was I expected to find when I came to the cons. To be honest, I've spent more time hanging out and partying than taking in speeches and presentations. I've met alot of great people, inside and outside the company. It's been a blast!

I made sure to take in the Michael Lynn presentation; I had confidence a shit storm was going to ensue. I wasn't disappointed! God how I love that power can still be wielded by a single person like that - bravo. A little anarchy is always good, and really reminded me in alot of core ways why this is such a cool industry, despite it's many glaring faults. On the other hand, I think it's a shame that ISS behaved the way they did. And Cisco... well, you both should be ashamed of yourselves. Thankfully it looks like things are getting sorted out, but what a show to see...

Defcon I've been finding alot more enjoyable. It was interesting to be in the middle of so many people, from poseurs and scene-whores to folks that are more intelligent and deep in one little finger than I am as a whole. Everybody I've met has been cool - including John, an initially random non-nCircle guy who got screwed for a place to stay and who's crashing in our room. He may or may not have also snuck into Blackhat. For a security conference, guys, you really shoulda caught this guy out! It's a shame we didn't tap him to man the booth so we coulda grabbed a few more beers.

Meeting customers was one of the coolest aspects. It's nice to have people come up to you and tell you, for whatever faults you may have, that we're both on the same page. To know that the work you do *is* making a difference and that people appreciate it is, well, a rush. Everybody's buying everybody drinks, picking up the cheque for meals, and it feels kinda like a big family. Ok, that sounded nauseatingly saccharine, but fuck it!

Can't remember where I saw it or heard it, but some words have been stuck in my mind that I'll now paraphrase - "We need to recapture the revolutionary spirit of our industry". Despite some odd behaviour from a few people that showed up at our booth, I think there's room for a number of players. [Update: it has been confirmed that the 3 guys who showed up and acted odd at the booth were definately not from a competitor. Thank goodness! I don't understand their motivations though.]

Folks from multiple competitors that showed up at the nCircle party were really cool. We have people who used to work at Qualys working for us. There's ex-nCirclers working at other competitors. But I still felt that we all had that excited-to-be-in-the-security-industry feeling.

Shouldn't people who sit in a room evilly cackling 'I will crush the competition!' become a thing of the past? Scorched earth is bad for everyone.