Captains Blog
Desktop apps are dead baby, YEAH!
Wednesday, 28 March 2007

The desktop. Currently the battlefield of an ongoing war, Windows vs Linux vs Mac. Sounds a bit like Aliens vs Predator vs Batman huh? And probably just as relevant in the near future. Why? Cos pretty soon, the desktop application will be dead, except for a browser... probably Firefox.

 

What am I talking about? I mean, there's word processors, spreadsheets, videos, music, games, accounting packages, CRM, ERP and all those other 3 (or more likely 4) letter (swear)words you use when you talk about your computer system. All of those applications are IMPORTANT. Especially in the commercial world.

 

Camera moves across the desk... focuses on a watch... time fast forwards 5 years... Every application is available as a service on the web. Think Yahoo or Google mail. All you do, is connect to the net, and PRESTO! You get access to those applications (for a fee). Oh. Wait a sec. 5 years? Maybe in Internet time, cos they're here right now! The new buzzword - SAAS (software-as-a-service), here's some examples:

 

Word processor and spreadsheet - Google Docs

Videos - YouTube

Music - StreamingRadio

CRM - SugarCRM

 

Now there are some things that aren't there, and might need five years to get off the desktop. A web-based iTunes. 3D gaming. Image manipulation like Adobes products. But they're coming. 

 

There are of course limitations to this. Here in NZ, we're choked by our lack of true broadband, which will hinder this. My supposed 'max-speed' internet pipe just had to be downed to 3Mb/s to stop it from dropping out. Don't you just love incumbent telecoms?

 

 

 

 
 
Blogs R Us
Wednesday, 07 March 2007

 

Given this is a blog, I thought it appropriate to start blogging about blogging.

 

One of the biggest executive bloggers in the US is CEO and president of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz . His Sun blog shows loads of geeky goodness and a load of personality as an insight into the company and the CEO. I have to wonder how he gets the time! I'm sure he must get up from not being able to sleep at night and jot down his thoughts to get them out of his head, a trick for those insomniacs out there (yours truly included).

 

Locally (in New Zealand), there aren't many blogs around, and certainly not from executives. The old-fashioned MBA executive mindset doesn't lead to giving out free information, in case they accidentally say something damaging. Anyone who thinks I say something damaging, please tell me :-)  

 

One site that could be considered a blog is Aardvark. From what's in the copyright, it's been around since '95, and chats about in very non-commercial terms about some techy headlines. Steven Kempton, owner and CEO of Search Niche, blogs about various recruitment and HR things on his Asia Pacific Headhunter blog.

 

But where is everyone else? Have a quick think... blog +New Zealand... anything come to mind? Not for me! So to Google! A quick search of "site:nz blog" shows 944,000 responses. Woah! Lot more than I expected, so cool. Also a quick search on the NZ Herald site for 'blog' returns a fair few - don't search for 'blogs' with an S, cos their search engine is too stupid to figure out it's related! In fact, I found an article about a professional blogger , Richard MacManus, who makes a living from blogging. Excellent!

 

But the budding question that is bound to abound, is WHY? Why blog? Why spend precious time blogging? What value, especially to a company, can blogging add? Here's what I think:

 

  • It brings a personal touch to communication, dropping the formal highschool and university english of royal 'our', 'we' and 'us'.
  • It's an easy way to get a message out. Formal newsletters are easy to replace with a blog, at a low expense.
  • Readership encourages website use. This is a key thing for anyone on the web - your site is only as good as the visitors it brings.
  • It's possible to make money from it! Add a Google widget and get paid for click-throughs. Sweet!

 

So that's all for now, so get bloggin'! You can get started for free at http://www.blogger.com/start.