Where’s the Power?
In the beginning, there were software companies and they were good…well they were OK. They developed their applications and sold them to a public hungry for tools that justified the purchase of a personal computer that had very little practical use unless you were a coder. How many PC’s were sold because of VisiCalc?
But the world has changed. There are many applications to perform the same basic functions. How many contact managers are there? Spreadsheets? E-mail programs? Do a Google search on “free chess game” or “free 3-d modeling software” and you will be amazed by the number of programs available for download.
The software world must keep up. The days of selling shrink-wrapped software are ending. Software companies are under increasing pressure to differentiate themselves from competitors, and it's not just pricing pressure caused by the emergence of the open-source movement. This pressure to differentiate demands mobility between many disparate machines and devices. It also demands a customer service model that accrues experience, eliminating the "start over" every time we have a problem or question. The software companies must find a way to maintain customer loyalty other than through a familiar graphic interface. What happens when voice recognition becomes commonplace? Imagine the ramifications to your address book or music player when you never need to see the GUI.
The learning curve for many applications is burdensome, and in many cases not worth the extra effort. We can get the basics, but the pain associated with mastering a certain software tool is cumbersome. Even experienced users struggle with uncommon features in regularly used applications. The concept that computer users the world over will continue to figure out a never ending flow of software tools and features is not practical. There must be a direct connection between the application provider and the customer, and I don't mean a third-party help desk in Bangalore. Include software updates and future mobility requirements between different devices into the mix and we are looking at a time of accelerating change for the software industry.
So the power shifts. And just like all power, it naturally migrates to the periphery. This evolution will move the center of power from the software companies to the developers and then ultimately to the users themselves. I submit that the end user will soon have the ultimate power in the software hierarchy. And I further submit this newly empowered software user will have access to those applications anywhere, on any device, with the relevant personal data and settings following seamlessly.
Many people believe this portends a service based computing industry. But how do we reconcile these two seemingly different solutions; the web-services provider with all the power at the core verses having more processing power and storage capacity on our local devices?
The future lies in a merging of these different solutions. There must be a service-based organization connecting to and updating these more powerful peripheral devices. More importantly, the data, application settings and software must be updated and mirrored to those devises seamlessly so that if the network is down or disconnected, those peripheral devices still function; something a web-based services organization cannot offer. This is the true marriage of service-based and stand-alone computing power. It is an application service model with mirroring capabilities. Add that together with disconnected functionality and remote control capabilities and you have the ingredients to save the software industry from itself, and make computing simple for everyone.
Joel Allen is president of AllenPort Co., based in Princeton, NJ.
© 2005 Joel E. Allen. All rights reserved
But the world has changed. There are many applications to perform the same basic functions. How many contact managers are there? Spreadsheets? E-mail programs? Do a Google search on “free chess game” or “free 3-d modeling software” and you will be amazed by the number of programs available for download.
The software world must keep up. The days of selling shrink-wrapped software are ending. Software companies are under increasing pressure to differentiate themselves from competitors, and it's not just pricing pressure caused by the emergence of the open-source movement. This pressure to differentiate demands mobility between many disparate machines and devices. It also demands a customer service model that accrues experience, eliminating the "start over" every time we have a problem or question. The software companies must find a way to maintain customer loyalty other than through a familiar graphic interface. What happens when voice recognition becomes commonplace? Imagine the ramifications to your address book or music player when you never need to see the GUI.
The learning curve for many applications is burdensome, and in many cases not worth the extra effort. We can get the basics, but the pain associated with mastering a certain software tool is cumbersome. Even experienced users struggle with uncommon features in regularly used applications. The concept that computer users the world over will continue to figure out a never ending flow of software tools and features is not practical. There must be a direct connection between the application provider and the customer, and I don't mean a third-party help desk in Bangalore. Include software updates and future mobility requirements between different devices into the mix and we are looking at a time of accelerating change for the software industry.
So the power shifts. And just like all power, it naturally migrates to the periphery. This evolution will move the center of power from the software companies to the developers and then ultimately to the users themselves. I submit that the end user will soon have the ultimate power in the software hierarchy. And I further submit this newly empowered software user will have access to those applications anywhere, on any device, with the relevant personal data and settings following seamlessly.
Many people believe this portends a service based computing industry. But how do we reconcile these two seemingly different solutions; the web-services provider with all the power at the core verses having more processing power and storage capacity on our local devices?
The future lies in a merging of these different solutions. There must be a service-based organization connecting to and updating these more powerful peripheral devices. More importantly, the data, application settings and software must be updated and mirrored to those devises seamlessly so that if the network is down or disconnected, those peripheral devices still function; something a web-based services organization cannot offer. This is the true marriage of service-based and stand-alone computing power. It is an application service model with mirroring capabilities. Add that together with disconnected functionality and remote control capabilities and you have the ingredients to save the software industry from itself, and make computing simple for everyone.
Joel Allen is president of AllenPort Co., based in Princeton, NJ.
© 2005 Joel E. Allen. All rights reserved
posted by Joel Allen at 1:05 PM
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