Social Software Explored

I don’t have enough energy to do this, but it would be cool if someone could give names to each of the “Design Era’s” we have seen come to life. But here goes:

- The Bullet Era: When I first started on the web every link had a “3-d Bullet graphic” (http://web.archive.org/web/19970724115909/www.uri.edu/artsci/artsci_home.html) [note: click though on Economics]

[Somwhere along the way we graduated to the black background sites]

- Black background sites: Some of the first major designs we did were on black backgrounds (http://web.archive.org/web/19981212030944/http://www.mewstavern.com/) [note: first CF site I ever worked on - take a look at beers]

[Missing a ton of designs - for the better of man kind I moved into development at this point]

[Eventually we got to the point where we are today]

- Gradients: If you site does not use Lightbox and have Gradient headers you just ain’t cool

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Well, I can honestly say that I believe that we are finally at the end of the “Gradient Era”:

Proof1: There is actually a web site that will build a gradient image for you. Yes, I did not stutter, it actually builds a gradient image: http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/gradient/. It is my recollection, that if anything ever becomes this “Mainstream” it has already met its demise. After-all, if the blinking text on my Grandma’s web page gets replaced with a gradient image then it’s all over – right?

Proof2: Two web site designs that have come out recently which don’t use any gradients. Not one.

1.) wis.dm – A social bookmarking site heavier on the “social” then the “bookmarking”
2.) mikull.com – my friends blog (yes he has some mad design skills)

So, while I can’t guarantee you won’t stumble upon a site riddled with Gradients, I can say that I am happy to ask “What is next??”.

Gotta go, off to make a few gradient images for a new menu system, I have connected Yahoo’s Menu Object into CommonSpot.

I can not even take any credit for this it is too genius [they have shown the Dwayne Wade injury another 4 times].

You must watch this NOW:

Tim Hardaway is a Homophobic Asshole

I am here to inform you that the Web is getting closer towards living up to the stringent expectations that we (I) continue to place on it.  Point in hand:

Half way through the fourth quarter of the Miami Heat and Houston Rockets game (televised on ESPN) Dwayne Wade was injured.  Although, it is tough to tell whether or not Dwayne was seriously injured he was taken off the court in a wheelchair minutes (maybe even less than a minute) after being removed from the game.

We all remember (at least I do) the first few times we saw athletes get injured during the game (I can visually relive Joe Theisman and Bo Jackson’s injuries in my head at will).  Even if the injured player was not on your favorite team you were interested in the status of that player.  On TV, unfortunately, the show must go on.  And while the announcers invariably speculate on the health of the injured player (we all do after watching the reply 144 times), they rarely get enough information to the viewers.  Especially, as it was in the case of Dwayne Wade, if the injury happens towards the end of the game.

(here is where I tell you that things are getting better)

At approximately 11:33 PM tonight, NBA.com posted a news article (god save the CMS) which outlined the injury (slightly):

Miami star Dwyane Wade left the Heat’s game at Houston on Wednesday night after apparently injuring his left shoulder in the fourth quarter.

Wade got tangled up with Shane Battier and grimaced in pain before going to the bench. A couple of minutes later he was helped into a wheelchair and taken off the bench.

He was not moving his left arm and appeared to be in serious pain as he was wheeled away.

He left with 27 points.

Ok, so the report did not have any more information then I already knew, but it signifies the fact that the Web will soon become the source for all information.  Yes, you heard it ALL information.

Thought within a thought
Ok, I am going to try something here — often when I post to my blog I start writing on a topic and invariably my brain takes a few twists and turns as I try to put a thought into context.  [note: as we speak ESPN has shown the Dwayne Wade injury clip 10 (nope make that 12 - literally twice more since I started this sentence - this time with yellow rings around Dwayne's arm - he is screwed)]

So here is a new thing that I am going try:

Definition: Thought within a thought – a deeper thought about a particular topic which without any real proof becomes simply a thought.  Often, these thoughts don’t require an entire new post but rather then “lose” the thought, I record it.

<ThoughtWithinAThought>

Let’s say that the Web becomes THE source for information.  Most people may think that this will “ruin” verbal communication or the written word etc… We have all heard about the degeneration of the society.  But what if we went full circle … I mean FULL CIRCLE.  What if the web really does become the place where information flows, however the information is common knowledge, and REAL information flowed soly through the written and spoken word.  Like when people told stories (before the printing press).

</ThoughtWithinAThought>

[So they have now shown it 2 more times]

Unfortunately, the NBA.com post (which is now 20 minutes old) has no new information.

I had some time today to catch up on my “links for you” (links your friends post to their account they believe you would be interested in) at del.icio.us. and I cam across a link to an article a friend of mine had sent to me a week or two ago on the RSS reader. The article entitled: Death of the RSS Reader / Software as services was written in December 2005 (Yes) by Phil Waineright who rights an “Applications on demand” blog for ZDNet (I added his blog to my list because he is dead on here). While I am not sure that he has captured the full value of “Software as services” (which I believe goes way beyond RSS) I think that he has a point.

Software as a service (SaaS)
The idea of software as a service has been around for quite some time. SaaS is well documented on the web and has its own place even at Wikipedia: SaaS. I was involved in a few startups that were early adopters of the idea except we called ourselves Application Service Providers or ASP’s. Back in the day we built applications and “rented” the use of those applications out to companies in return for a monthly fee (the holy of all holies – recurring revenue). These applications were maintained by us. We handled the server and network architecture (we obviously outsourced this), we updated the software and managed the data. The client simply opened a Web browser and worked with their data.

There is however, a big difference in SaaS to the business (b2b) and SaaS to the consumer (b2c). A while back the industry thought that the b2b software industry was going to explode. Services between companies have certainly moved to the web and that continues to increase, but not nearly as much as the b2c side.

Today you can see software as a service almost everywhere. Google and Yahoo compete for the consumer’s attention all of the time with their applications which help you do everything from manage links and video to email and favorite TV shows. There are also many other smaller applications (who are continually swallowed up by larger organizations) that offer niche market applications like Flickr and Dandelife to name a couple.

I think a notable Software as a Service in the consumer space is PeaPod. While you may not think about it as a traditional SaaS, for the consumer it is most definitely a contender. What better services then the ability to virtually attend a supermarket, order some goods and have those goods delivered to your home. On that same level, you could include Netflix, Blockbuster and the like in their as well.

While the RSS Reader online can certainly be considered a service, I am not sure that he has done justice to the explosion in SaaS on the consumer side.