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In my last post I mentioned that I've been "struggling to articulate the things in my head into words". Well, it seems for a large chunk of it I no longer have to. On 30th September Tim O'Reilly published an article entitled "What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software". Although I wouldn't refer to it as "Web 2.0" because it's more just the web evolving into something else slowly rather than a new version as such (which Tim actually hints at himself), it covers a large chunk of what I've been thinking about recently in terms of the web's next step in building the "Information Age".
From the article:
1) Services, not packaged software, with cost-effective scalability
2) Control over unique, hard-to-recreate data sources that get richer as more people use them
3) Trusting users as co-developers
4) Harnessing collective intelligence
5) Leveraging the long tail through customer self-service
6) Software above the level of a single device
7) Lightweight user interfaces, development models, AND business models
Although at least from an engineering perspective I'm still not convinced the web is the right platform for all this, it is evolving and it's likely better to let the web become something new rather than trying to create something new from scratch simply because it's already out there, everywhere. I believe that this list of seven identifiable trends ultimately set the scene for the convergence of computing, communications and media in a really big way and for the ideas I'm working on to come to fruition. My ideas are still very underdeveloped but at least I have something to aim at.
And now back to my ordinary everyday life, I have to make something to eat.
But first, while I'm in a wild, predictive mood... Look out for a Google Calendar, iPod Video (and another new iPod of some variety by the end of next week), eventually a handheld device which is basically just a lot of storage and a big display with approximately one button and *lots* of connectivity, a replacement for the traditional office suite, the death of 3G by 2009 and the old-school-set-in-their-ways software and media industries getting very scared. OK I'm done with speculation now.
October 13 2005, 07:21:55 UTC 6 years ago
On 3) - Working on a call-centre system, took two of my team to talk to the prospective users (first-line support guys, so not un-techy, and very good ideas of what they needed) and thus incurred the wrath of their boss. He said he didn't want us to talk to them, it all had to be done through him... though he'd never actually done the job! So even though the developers would trust the users as co-developers, there was a problem with a boss who feared losing the control. As for being a user up against the blind arrogance of some[1] IT departments - well, you try working in almost any big company if you need anything other than Office and a bit of email.
Services, and scalability, have been buzzwords for a few years, but packages are easier to manage and so that's what gets done even when the buzzwords are there. The self-service concept has been growing (mainly because it can be sold as cost-saving).
Lightweight development and business models? We wish! It works on small-scale, but as soon as things get bigger they knot up. Maybe modelling concepts should be taught at primary school.
Intraweb does pretty well for it. Interweb is more difficult. The theory is good, but the practice gets vandalised and discouragement sets in.
It's good to see it articulated. The more people use these ideas, and get used to them, the easier it will be.
[1] There are exceptions, but they have a hard time surviving in corporates
October 13 2005, 10:24:30 UTC 6 years ago
aha, so I can make comments
Perhaps this is why some people are claiming there's going to be another "dot com" era. Startups are going to just keep coming out of nowhere with management and developers who "get it" and the big corporations are so tied down with bureaucracy that they're going to wonder what's hit them.They will eventually catch on like the music industry will eventually get over their denial and come to terms with what's actually happening with music. But for the time being, there's a whole new world of data out there in the noosphere waiting for homesteading and opportunities are about ripe for picking.
I think simple things like address books and calendars will be the first things to get re-invented, then will come a whole new approach to "office suites" with built-in collaboration, then other large applications will follow. Some things can be easily implemented on this new platform but other things need some new thinking, then there's the things nobody's even thought of before because they weren't possible until the new platform came along.
Your point about intrawebs is interesting. There's an interesting element of trust here too. I'm not sure how I feel about some of my data sitting on a server owned by some big corporation and businesses are going to be even less happy about it. While the web expands to be an application platform I don't think The Internet will just become The Network, it will still be a network to connect networks.
The difference will be that there will be seamless integration between Intranet web servers and Internet web servers because they will be using the same technology. Some applications will be hosted on the Internet and others will be hosted on a private Extranet, be that in a business, University or even your home and they will be interchangeable. And this is where my ideas come in.
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