Imagine

Many years ago I started a competition called the Imagine Cup when I was at Microsoft. The idea was to give technology students around the world a chance to use .NET to create something really cool. If the software application they built was good, they’d be invited to represent their country and compete at a global event, all-expenses paid, and be treated like rock stars. This idea came out of a brainstorming session I had with BillG during one of our project reviews.

The competition was named after John Lennon’s song, Imagine. And since the first competition in Barcelona, it has grown to become the premier student technology competition in the world. The year that more than 100,000 students competed was in 2005, Imagine Cup’s 3rd year, and the finale was held in Yokohama, Japan. The theme for that year was “Imagine a world where technology dissolves the boundaries between us.”

At the competition pre-briefing, where student finalists from over 50 countries were gathered together for the first time, the goodwill between students was heartwarming. I ended my opening remarks with the inspiration for the Imagine Cup: the last verse from the song Imagine,

Imagine there’s no possession

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing for the world

You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope someday you’ll join us

And the world will be as one

Last night, I watched American Idol, and saw David Archuleta’s performance of this exact verse. I was blown away. A lot has been said about how prodigious he is, what a great singer he is, and what a nice kid he is. That’s all true, but the thing that really blew me away was how he leveraged his musical talent to dissolve the boundaries between us. On the drive to work today, talk about his performance was all over the radio. When I got to work, everyone was talking about that performance. And as Michael Slezak from Entertainment Weekly wrote,

He has the eyes of Bambi, only darker and perhaps 11 percent more earnest. When the camera catches his broad, open, guileless grin, you can kind of understand how a mother feels the first time her baby looks up at her and smiles. And when he sings — oh, that voice! — grandpas (and Paula) grab their handkerchiefs and dab the corners of their eyes, remembering simpler days when ”nice boys and girls” were the toast of the airwaves.

The judges adore him. The tweens in the audience can’t stop screaming for him. And, perhaps most remarkable of all, he doesn’t give off that whiff of creepiness that too often clings to youthful performers — you know, the forced maturity, the soulless ambition, the ability to come up with a polished but uninteresting sound bite the minute the cameras start rolling.

I hope he goes the distance.