Thursday, June 27, 2002

Software services over the web. If you follow enterprise software -- and I suggest the rest of you if you skip this post -- you'll know there is a received wisdom. Companies will pay for software that arrives in a shrink-wrapped box; but not for the same service accessed over the web. The one is tangible; the other ethereal. And functionality doesn't even come into it. This is one of the main reasons I dislike the enterprise software sector. So I was gratified to read the latest Stewart Alsop. He explains the political reasons why companies prefer to keep their software inhouse, but then predicts that more application services -- such as web conferencing system Webex -- will emerge. "The concept here--that renting software may be a smart idea when applications are good but not critical to the tech workings of corporations--isn't widely accepted. But it makes sense to me, and I'm betting it will take hold." Alsop on Infotech - A Bet on a Dead Business Model [Fortune] [nickdenton.org] 3:39:06 PM

An Entrepreneur's Walk. I was reflecting recently on the past 3 months, since we began working on Emergic. At that time, there were a number of ideas. I had a set of names for the things we wanted to do, but had little clue on how we would go about doing things. [My [E M E R G I C . o r g] 3:16:28 PM