2 Percent Creativity - Marketing and Advertising Insights from a Connected Perspective

Writeboard - Watching Software Being Written

If you have followed some of the posts on 37 Signals and their various web apps, design philosophies and the new Writeboard, you just have to see this post on their blog today. Essentially they are doing a product demo on how they are using Writeboard to write their new book. But look at the comments that some of their users are making. What you are seeing is much more than a product demo, it is the way really useful and powerful new software is being written.

Using Writeboard to collaborate on the text for our new book - Signal vs. Noise (by 37signals).

Web 2.0, Writeboard, Ning - Where's it All Going?

The funny thing about the web, especially for those involved in the real estate industry, is that the real innovation and potentially the future, remains 2-3 years ahead of most users today. It's the bleeding edge, the innovators, early adopters and power users, that shape what we will all want to have next. These are the true 2%, the Purple Cows, the excellent ones....

The most remarkable thing about Web 2.0 is that the techies, the nerds, the guys with the pocket protectors, have figured out the online consumer experience better than most marketers. If you are asking yourself, what's he going on about, what's Web 2.0 and what does it mean for me, you had better look into the boys at 37 Signals and their BasecampHQ. They recently released Writeboard and saw 10,000 of them started in just 2 days. Then go over to Ning, the secret project of Marc Andreesen (remember him from Web 1.0 - Netscape - back when Al Gore invented the Internet? ;-).

If you catch yourself asking, "what the heck is this" while looking a these online apps, well, sorry friend, but you're a dino again.

Glenn

Why Yahoo! Bought Konfabulator

The recent purchase of a small company, Konfabulator, has many Widget users shaking their heads. Charlene Li presents a very interesting perspective on her blog that suggests there is more than meets the eye here. I have one question and one thought on this move by Yahoo. The question is, why buy a company whose product was basically wrapped into the latest MAC OS? I believe the Konfab folks launched a lawsuit as a result of this move by Apple. Secondly, contrary to Charlene's hopes, I cannot see any reason why Yahoo! would ever consider setting the Widget free. It is not in their nature to share. Time will tell.

Link: Charlene Li's Blog: Why Yahoo! buying Konfabulator is more than just about widgets

Finally, Introducing the MacTel

Now, I am going to date myself with this one, but this is a story too long in the making. First, I want you to know, I am a die hard MAC user. I bought my first MAC in 1985 and had the first (bootleg to boot) copy of Pagemaker, courtesy of the MAC rep at the time, on my 512k, in Canada. Simply put, I was there...

There was another pivotal point in history where I was partially at the axis as well. I was a sales rep for JVC at the time, when the battle between Beta and VHS was just gaining momentim. As a JVC devotee, of course I was routing for VHS. The Beta guys all professed superior picture quality, but we knew that was just one and only Sony marketing. In the end, what won the day, was Matsushita's (JVC's parent company in Japan) decision to make the 'operating system' of VHS an easy license. The rest, as the lazy journalist likes to say, was history. VHS clobbered Beta.

As a MAC evangelist who has often wondered if my computing savior really cared, I have wished for the day when Stevie Wonder and the boys at Apple (take a bite out of my marketshare) would wise up and let the OS be free. Well, it has been 20 years ago today, since Sargeant Pepper taught the band to play and Apple has finally decided to let the world in on the best operating system on the planet.

Welcome to the world of Mactel all you WIN this and XP that drones. Use the force Bill, use the force.

Glenn

Link: Steve Jobs Says Apple Will Use Intel Chips.