breaks the news of the week. Launched on April 15, it is already “an Adobe (Macromedia) Flash killer”. Well, it sounds a little bit overconfident. Actually, Microsoft just tries to collide with Adobe by grabbing a niche from Flash. The question is will it really succeed in becoming the only winner. You want the answer? “Doubtful!”
Silverlight aims at RIAs development market and will be mashed up with Microsoft’s here and then, but it won’t replace Adobe’s Flash. In this “war”, Microsoft is not the leader; it is the follower. It’s too late to set new standards. Maybe, a piece of a market will be a reward, but not the whole game. However, I agree with about the situation in general:
Of course, those two companies are starting to get into each other’s areas, but in the grand scheme of things, that isn’t really important. We’re seeing a definite blending of the software world where being “on the desktop” or “on the web” doesn’t really matter. People are just excited about building engaging user experiences, and they want technologies that make that easy to do and in a way that is good for users. […] As both companies develop tools and ecosystems around Rich Internet Applications, developers, users, and designers win.
Well, Microsoft’s didn’t kill yet, so it won’t kill Adobe Flash. Moreover, it won’t be the only winner, either. “The Only Winners” are we.
Matt Assay about “open source style” in restaurant business. Denver-based restaurant chain gives its food away for free to attract new customers.
Instead of telling people about a product, you let them use it. For free. Then they come back to buy from you, if you make the experience relatively painless. Sounds like open source. But tastes better.
In fact, this “open” business model works almost everywhere. Open source software and fast-food chains are just vivid examples. Most food vendors, as well as parfume manufacturers, are used to product sampling. Once a customer recognizes the value of a product, he will come back again for more. This model is really brilliant!
1) You promote your products; 2) You give your target audience positive emotions (which is equal to positive responses); 3) You communicate with your customers and get the feedback on product quality, value, etc.
By all means, it is MUCH MORE PERSUASIVE than just using words. Giving your customer a possibility to try a product and “taste the value”, you already have him (or her) involved in using your services. If your product HAS a value, you WILL get a response. Fast-food, bubble gum, candies, nevermind.
However, that’s true, it is hard to imagine a restaurant, which could be giving its food away all the time, and getting its revenues from the additional services only. =)) Anyway, who knows…
It seems like the term “webware” is getting hot these days. and claimed in their blogs that they prefer the word “webware” to the acronym. This is how Paul put it in a funny manner:
I imagine that to the horse and buggy manufacturers, the automobile was nothing more than the ‘Horse and Buggy as a Self Propelled Vehicle’ (HaBaaSPV). And to the manuscript producers of the middle ages, the printing press (which in the early days was operated by Scribes) was simply the ‘Scribe as an Operator of a Repeatable and Automated System for Increased Productivity and Broad-based Distribution’ (SaaOoaRaAMfIPaB-bD, pronounced Sa-ō-ŏ-ra-A- … oh never mind, you get the point).
Later, he wisely notices:
Whereas the term ‘SaaS’ wrongly places its emphasis on the very technology component (software) that users of web-based applications no longer need to think about. Webware is a revolutionary new approach to satisfying information needs.
The term is also promoted by Rafe Needleman, CNet editor. Rafe labelling as “webware” for all Productivity Applications, Data-Driven Applications, and Community Services, which are being delivered over the Web. So, we already have software, freeware, adware, , and even (credits to Dave Linthicum). The term “webware” is becoming the edge of this “ware” hype.
But wait, folks! Someone should protect the copyrights, as well. Because there’s a suite of Python packages and tools for developing object-oriented, web-based applications, which is called “”. p.s. For simplicity, there’s also a word “buzzware”.
