The success of any cutting-edge technological innovation can be measured by its adaptability it offers to the common man. In his famous book ‘Crossing the chasm’, author Geoffrey Moore calls this critical mass (the common man) as ‘pragmatists’ and they play a critical role in the success of any innovation. Conversely, when any new technology is hyped beyond certain level it is bound to hit the ground very badly. Nobody can forget the dotcom hype in the early 90s followed by the bubble burst in 2000-01. Fuelled by a bunch of startups, it was believed that anything and everything can be brought into the Internet and customers will start flocking into it. But by the end of the burst, only handful of those startups (like Google, Yahoo etc...) were able to survive mainly because they had products (rather online services) which made sense to a common man.
Last week I was reading the official whitepaper about Web 2.0 by Tim O'Reilly and found it pretty interesting. It mainly highlights how Web 2.0 is different from the initial Web 1.0. One of the main attributes of the Web 2.0 is its interactive nature. Unlike the previous version, where the contents are hosted by the service provider, in the 2.0 world, the end user becomes the creator of the content. This is very significant because, it inspires empowerment of the common man. Users of Web 2.0 can express their views about varied topics and share them in the form of a blog post or a wiki page over the Internet that connects millions world over. By creating such a platform for expressing individuals’ thoughts the Web 2.0 has truly emerged as a very strong platform for human expression.
Another main attribute of Web 2.0, is the ‘software-as-a-service’ (SAAS) model, where the user can access any application software from the internet without having it installed in the computer. More commonly used applications (like spreadsheets) are available online (Google spreadsheets), which can be edited by individuals or as a group. Thanks to high bandwidth, last mile technologies like DSL, the internet speed has increased tremendously and the prices have dropped sharply. For example, in the year 2001, I used to pay INR 250 (for the internet service provider) plus telephone charges to access a 56 Kbps internet. Now in 2007, speed upto 2 Mbps is available at the same price without any additional telephone charges. This has indeed set the stage for SAAS based model and Web 2.0.
At the same time, I have my own doubts about heavyweight applications being made available over the Internet using SAAS. For example -- recently I came across Nivio, which is an online version of Windows. By subscribing to this service (by paying $12.99 per month) it will provide 5 GB storage space with some pre-defined applications over the web. The main idea of accessing PC from everywhere looks interesting at the first sight and looks technically ‘cool’ as far as the geeks are concerned. But does it make sense for a common man? Ever falling hardware prices and free software (like Open source) have already made computing very affordable. So, if the user wants to store some data in the Internet, the online storage has become free of cost, hence providing a one stop shop for all stored and processed user defined data.
I have registered for the free trial version of Nivio and am yet to receive the login information. But when I look at products like these, they seem to be re-creating the web 1.0 days, in my opinion. I am willing to wait and watch the success or otherwise of such products no matter how skeptical I may feel about them at the moment.
