Martin Wells

I'm not a big fan of the idea that client/server applications can ever replace their desktop counterparts. This has been tried many times in the past and always failed (anybody remember "The Network Is The Computer [TM]"). The barriers to this are mostly centered on that annoying little thing called the speed of light. What I'm seeing lately though are more client-oriented systems (heavily scripted client-side) with the guts handled by the server. And that's really the main focus behind web 2.0 style applications; shift more into the client/browser. The mix feels right this time.

If you don't believe me, then take a look at ajaxWrite. No really, click on the link, go into the app. It's amazing. After a few seconds of loading you'll have a simple version of Word running right in the browser. Once they integrate other applications and integrate online storage (like Omnidrive), you get a glimpse of a world without heavy-duty hardware and operating systems. Applications are updated in an instant. No more viruses, installations, licence keys or lost CDs.

It's not for everyone, but there sure are a lot who would never need anything more. Even the most skeptical would agree there are some applications they would use in this way.

Let's go another step though. What happens when the online applications do things that the desktop counterparts can't, such as third-party services integration. Imagine if Microsoft wanted to update Word to let you search or upload photos in Flickr. They would need to write the code and then blast it down to millions of machines. A trivial update like that is never going to happen. But an online service like ajaxWrite could roll out such a feature overnight. Now lets go another step. Roll out a whole host of applications (calendar, spreadsheet, database, write), integrate file sharing, photos, tagging, shopping (and tangler for messaging)… just keep on going. The potential integration and application functionality is mind boggling, and simple leaves desktop applications in their wake.

When will this happen? I can't say for sure. Though it's certainly not for another few years. (Tangler, for example, is heavily focused on the desktop.) But is talk of the web as an application platform really that far fetched. For most of us, the desktop operating system is not going anywhere anytime soon, but there is definitely a new kid on the block and I can see it taking a big part of the applications market.

And guess who's best positioned to take advantage of it… that's right. The big G.

UPDATE: Turns out ajaxWrite isn't really powered by ajax. It's XUL - hence why it only works in Firefox. Maybe I should rename the post to Browser Apps Really Do Work.

There’s some heat in the internet market again, and it seems a new company pops up every day – my RSS feed to ehub just
popped up with 6 new entries, and that’s just for one day.

Inevitably, the heat fuels companies that are being formed on a questionable basis, commonly with hype-guided products that are really just solutions looking for a problem. It’s those well-meaning, but ultimately doomed ventures that breed the emerging sense of senselessness in a particular market, in this case web 2.0.

And then come the generalisations; people arguing there is too much hype, too much cash – sometimes even too little cash – too much competition, too few technical staff, too few users, too many parties to attend… it goes on.

Generalisations are the warning signs on a road to narrow-mindedness. These are all interesting aspects to a current market, but ultimately they are just part of the everyday challenges or opportunities of running a business. Deal with it. Don't ever make the mistake of considering this type of thing as a justification for starting (or ending) a business.

Just to help the point along a little, I’ll fire a salvo for the other side, not that anybody should be taking sides. Here’s my list of top reasons you should definitely start a web 2.0 company now. Please read them, take the point, which is that anybody can come up with generalisations to convince you of anything, burn the list, then get back to creating some value for people:

1. Infrastructure is cheap – bandwidth, hardware, rack space. Infrastructure is no longer any form of barrier to starting something.
2. Tools are mature — the software systems that form the basis upon which many services are built are now far more mature than they used to be. Linux, LAMP, Java/J2EE, Ruby, QT. This results in you delivering value sooner and with less risk.
3. People want to know you — web 2.0, and the internet generally being back in vogue, makes it easier to get press and general awareness. Consider it a temporary bonus though. Obscurity is only a bubble away.
4. Capital is easier to obtain — You’ll spend less time educating VC’s and angels, and you’ll find they are more receptive to a hot market because of the additional opportunities that arise from competitors, partners and suppliers (ultimately wanting to buy, copy or use you).
5. Technical staff are easier to find – Engineers are starting to believe in the market again.
6. Competition is fierce — Always a good thing. You’ll find out faster if you actually have something worthwhile and either succeed or learn your lesson faster. Competitors breed value.
7. You get random out-of-blue “reading this far” awards — Nice of you to still be here.
8. You get to ignore the heretics — Incumbents like to subconsciously justify their positions. Such as those who have achieved a healthy exits claiming the time has passed to have a go. Don't believe the humbugs.

Not surprisingly, tonight's 2Web verbal flood drowned in the debate.

TechCrunch, Web 2.0’s mother ship, continues to go from strength to strength, and for good reason. Michael Arrington is doing a fantastic job in a position earned through knowledge, respect and hard work — not through the blessing of a media mogul (how very web 2.0ish).

As the industry’s primary information gateway, it’s about time we saw some awards (“The Crunchies”), so in the hope to spur things along here’s my suggestion for categories:

• Best New Product
• Most Promising Startup
• Most Promising New Product
• Best Innovation
• People’s Choice for New Product – based on votes
• Best Web 2.0 Podcast
• Best Web 2.0 Blog
• The Nik Cubrilovic Award for Contribution to the Industry (cannot be awarded to Nik)

We could get a little more specific as well, however I’m not sure specific product categories (like Best Calendar) would work, so maybe some more abstract ones based on user value:

• Best Productivity Application
• Best Collaboration Tool
• Best Information Management Tool
• Best Communication Tool
• Best Information Retrieval Tool
• Best Group Communications Product That Starts With the Letter T

Now it can’t all be down to Mike’s choice, so we need a panel of industry experts who vote on the nominations made by everyone. My post will get too long if I start listing who those people might be, so feel free to comment.

And finally, no awards are complete without an extravaganza dinner, complete with red carpet arrivals and supermodel presenters; maybe Amanda Congdon could host it.

Of course, somebody has to then start the alternative piss-take awards (“The Crunched”). This could be held on the same night across town. Awards should include:

• Best Commenter Without A Blog
• Most Hyped Non-Product
• The Microsoft Award for Best Web 3.0 Product (they’ve already moved on from 2.0)
• Most Money Raised Without a Product
• Best Funding Deal (no details will be disclosed, and you will have never heard of the winner)
• Best Web 1.0 Pr… Never mind, that’s so ‘05.
• Best Definition of Web 2.0

So come on Mike, embrace your destiny.

Java SE 6 (a.k.a. Mustang) is nearing release and the more I see, the more I like. Whilst there’s a ton of features on the server side I think the major impact will come from the improvements to the desktop, such as dramatically improved font rendering, 2D graphics and default support for splash screens and system trays. It just looks and feels better all round. More like a real app.

In the end, I don’t think Mustang will result in an explosion of desktop Java apps, but at the same time, these improvements mean it’s not going anywhere soon. If Sun can solve the JVM startup and memory hog problems (not an easy thing to do) then Java will be a real option for multi-platform client apps. What will happen then if Google buys Sun and gives Java a client app audience.

In the meantime, I think Sun should be working on a new way to include Java in the web 2.0 movement. I’ll post more on how I think this could work soon.

Eric Bruno has a real Mustang review if you’re after all the details.

During a coffee this afternoon with Renai Lemay (a great guy) we inenvitibly played a round of web 2.0 definition bingo. One observation made at that meeting that I thought warranted some further discussion is the subject of RSS (syndicated web articles) being described as the “push” web. In other words, the web is being pushed out to consumers, rather than them having to go and read new content. Whilst this is the visible result, RSS is by no means a technology built around asynchronous communications (i.e. pushing messages in two directions). Now I’m not just being a pedantic geek. I think describing it this way causes us to overlook some important opportunties.

Firstly, push messaging for RSS articles is a hugely under exploited area. Just like the difference between email and IM, there is a future where we will see RSS being forced down the wire in real-time to client software instead of the current periodic checking method (”pull”). Whilst pulling RSS is currently working well, why can’t we go that next step. There’s a big difference between IM and email; and email and a blackberry for that matter. This also leads to presence being a factor. How about RSS where it’s only sent if the user is online? Would work well for traffic updates.

Secondly, (are you still with me) RSS is simply an agreed standard for article markup. In other words, traditional HTML markup used in normal web pages is a big unreadable, unmanagable mess to wade through. Imagine trying to write code that walked through web sites and attempted to determine what’s “new”. RSS isn’t so much a format for pushing content, but a simplified publishing “protocol” — a dumbing down of HTML you might say (just the facts).

Now I know for most this is obvious, but my point is that by dumbing down HTML to a readable/usable format you create the opportunity that is RSS. This dumbing down will continue in the future in order to carry other types of data over the established subscriber channels (the feeds). Why doesn’t Amazon then publish a “new books” feed in a specific XML format dumbed down to just the facts on books. You could then read that with appropriate software and update catalogs and other databases. Ultimately this works for all sorts of standardised data that can be published by companies. RSS is giving us a channel for XML…

The 2Web crew made an inaugural podcast last night. Unfortunately, I was on a boat on the Hawkesbury River at the time - oh, well. Next time around. It’s an interesting programme with some terrific insights into who exactly these guys are. Worth a listen.

And happy birthday to Alex (who’s party it was yesterday).

In a move bound to upset the balance of power in the blogging world, the assiduous Nik Cubrilovic and Ben Barren have gone ahead and done that annoying thing entrepreneurs do, and started something again.

To quote Nik:

“2web is a group of Australian bloggers and entrepreneurs who are passionate about web 2.0. What we all have in common is that through our businesses and blogging we develop, implement and evangelise web 2.0 ideas around web services, open standards, new media, blogs and the web as a platform.”

The honour roll includes:

• Ben Barren
• Cameron Reilly
• Nik Cubrilovic
• Martin Wells
• Darren Rowse
• James Farmer
• Alan Jones
• Richard Giles

You can see headlines from all the feeds aggregated over at the main site. There also an OPML file if you’re just desperate to feed on the whole thing in one go.

Thanks to Nik and Ben for the chance to be involved. It’s a terrific idea that I’m keen to see grow.

Is Google dropping the ball? Microsoft launched its Live Search tool today, and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised. It’s very fast, has comparably relevant results to Google and takes advantage of more recent advances in web technology, such as Ajax. Best of all it presents results in an ever-scrolling list. No more “nexting” through pages of results. You just keep on scrolling, and the contextual ads will automatically change as you scroll. Nice one.

Whilst impressive, Live Search’s features aren’t exactly a revolution. Ajax has been around for ages. What has Google changed in the last few years? Relevancy? Sorry, I haven’t noticed. I like Google’s “keep it fast and simple” strategy, but they’re taking it too far. Microsoft is likely faster since they’re relying on Ajax to download results as you scroll, rather than getting the whole page. Works for me.

Google has thousands of engineers and some of the best minds in the business, and they’re seriously saying the current Google Search page (the mainstay of their business) can’t be improved. Ball… oops… dropped… “Mom! Microsoft made me drop the search ball!”

Integration to live.com is also interesting. Search directly whilst doing other “live” things. Store common searches. RSS feed integration. Lots of room for the innnovation train to continue to roll. It makes Google Search look very much its age.

Links:

• Mike Arrington has some nice things to say - though I personally didn’t find the search slow.
• Niall Kenedy looks at some of the features.
• Read/Write has a good overview and the comments are interesting.

I’ve always loved the idea of push email on BlackBerries. You know, where email actually arrives similar to SMS, it just pops up on the device as and when the server sees it come in. You don’t need to poll the server (and waste a ton of GPRS bandwidth) every x minutes.

Unfortunately, BlackBerries suck at pretty much everything else: no apps (including no skype), limited hardware (such as models with workable wifi and GPS), so I’ve been waiting patiently to get the same thing going on my K-JAM.

The update patches are now coming available for Windows Mobile 2005 devices in the form of a Microsoft Messaging and Security Feature Pack (MSFP). The i-mate release for the K-JAM can be found here if you need it. Watch out though, the update process wipes the device first (and some Windows users complain when an patch asks for a reboot — try having your machine wiped!)

After the update you now have an option to have your exchange server push you email as it arrives. It took me about 5 minutes to configure and from then on I started to get email popping up straight on the device just like SMS. Works like magic! Highly recommended update.

Tangler turned 1 the other day — whilst we’ve been working at this for about 18 months, we became an “official” incorporated entity 12 months ago.

So we threw a hugely expensive silicon valley style internet startup mega-bash involving the entire team (all 7 of us) and a small muffin.

It’s been a great year, and in hindsight I think we’ve done exactly what we set out to acheive: concentrate as much as possible on realising the vision and building a great product foundation for the future. That’s been acheived with a minimum of distraction.

Thanks to a great team of stunningly bright and motivated people (Rhandy Lado, Alexander von Kotze, Scott Garnett, Craig Baker, Phong Mai and Minh Tran).

Can’t wait for the next 12 months…