The Future As Seen By Me In 2010

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Well looky here, things one has scanned in eh. (ignore the photo, that's some guy that made some accounting software, not sure what became of him ;) MIKE RIVERSDALE is fuming. The expensive headphones he bought in Sydney three weeks ago have just died. His first reaction is not to randomly spill expletives into his coffee, but to use his iPhone to vent his frustration to his Twitter con- tacts, under the moniker Miramar Mike. "I will also put, 'What should I do?' It's a conversation. I'm reaching out to the people following me." The council predicts hand-held digital devices such as smartphones will rule the world in 2040. They already rule the life of Mr Riversdale, whose company WaveAdept helps businesses adapt - their computing sys- tems to allow staff to work from anywhere - and with anyone. In order of fre- equency, he uses his iPhone to tweet (1136 followers; 8363 tweets since joining), e-mail, make phone calls and use online services, such as checki
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Microsoft Looks Down At Google And Google Reacts

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Was it timing that merely 2 days after Steve Balmer (Microsoft CEO) says (of Google Docs)*:
... you can’t even put a footnote in a document!

... that Google releases footnotes into Google Docs?

Or was it to show that the on-line world moves at a different speed to the "traditional" PC software environment and that Google has more ability/agility than most realise.

This isn't to say that Google Docs is more or less useful than Microsoft Office - that's for each business/individual to decide - but it does highlight how a product can become more useful before your very eyes and as you ask.

As to who will "win" - maybe the tortoise, maybe the hare - I don't care as long as we get software than is useful!

Further reading on this:

* source: Google Apps no threat to Microsoft? Maybe it is…
Picture credit: Gutenberg.org

Comments

  1. Anonymous19 October 2008 at 11:02

    This seems similar to the comparison of factual errors between Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia a few years ago. The number of errors were about the same. What was interesting was that the Wikipedia errors were all fixed two days later...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mike Riversdale19 October 2008 at 15:49

    :-) Nice comparison

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous27 October 2008 at 00:27

    Seems like a classic "disruptive" trajectory. Target the non-users and light users first with a cheaper and more convenient product, then gradually add features until you match the incumbent. Of course Google is adding a bunch of features that Microsoft never really had, so perhaps it's more of a Blue Ocean Strategy.

    Who will win? Google, methinks. So long as folks trust Google with their data, and most folks seem to, the standard quoted SaaS/Cloud-based advantages, along with the freemium biz model should eventually carry the day.

    ReplyDelete

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