5 ms·

In talking to a few companies who thought they wanted a blockchain, one big misconception is that blockchain will magically solve the interoperability issue whe

In talking to a few companies who thought they wanted a blockchain, one big misconception is that blockchain will magically solve the interoperability issue where multiple parties have data in disparate formats. Blockchain doesn't inherently do any data translation or normalization. It's interesting to me how resilient this misconception is. I have come to the conclusion that it's just wishful thinking for a magic bullet for an age-old difficult problem.

jrochkind1 8y ago
> one big misconception is that blockchain will magically solve the interoperability issue where multiple parties have data in disparate formats. That reminds me so hard of RDF/"linked data", which was (and is still in some sectors) popular for same motivation I think. Data interoperability is a real problem, with real pain, which is why people get so excited about tech they think will solve it. But no magic technology is going to solve it, it's a human problem. (At least I can see _why_ people (wrongly) thought RDF would; no idea how they arrived at that misconception of blockchain).
- vec 8y ago
  > (At least I can see _why_ people (wrongly) thought RDF would; no idea how they arrived at that misconception of blockchain) There was briefly the bad idea that "NoSQL means we don't have to care about our schemas anymore" bridging the other two bad ideas.
bunderbunder 8y ago
Thinking, "this might solve our interoperability woes", seems to be the classic motivator behind big companies' interest in every tech trend. It was there with Big Data ("Who cares? Just throw it in a data lake!"). It was there with NoSQL ("Who cares? Just throw it in a document store!") It was there with XML ("XML is just one format, right?") It was there with COM/CORBA/AppleScript/etc ("The vendor can make their own data readable!") I wouldn't be surprised if, millennia ago, there were organizations trying to figure out how fluted spear heads might solve their communication woes.
luckycharms810 8y ago
In my experience data interoperability issues are usually resolved by writing adapters, and using a datastore with strict integrity constraints. This is essentially what creating a blockchain transaction is. The chain code is responsible for running strong integrity constraints on the submitted data, and the client must adapt the data as required by the chain code before submitting a transaction. You can't get rid of the work required, but you can create a system that enforces the rules.
ppeetteerr 8y ago
I don't think that the lay-upper-middle-manager (aka the customer) cares. It's all about looking good in your yearly reviews.
YetAnotherNick 8y ago
Matches with my experience. One guy was thinking about creating a google ads alternative, as according to his thoughts, google overreports the clicks, and blockchain will give accurate number of clicks.

jrochkind1 8y ago

> one big misconception is that blockchain will magically solve the interoperability issue where multiple parties have data in disparate formats. That reminds me so hard of RDF/"linked data", which was (and is still in some sectors) popular for same motivation I think. Data interoperability is a real problem, with real pain, which is why people get so excited about tech they think will solve it. But no magic technology is going to solve it, it's a human problem. (At least I can see _why_ people (wrongly) thought RDF would; no idea how they arrived at that misconception of blockchain).

vec 8y ago
> (At least I can see _why_ people (wrongly) thought RDF would; no idea how they arrived at that misconception of blockchain) There was briefly the bad idea that "NoSQL means we don't have to care about our schemas anymore" bridging the other two bad ideas.

bunderbunder 8y ago

Thinking, "this might solve our interoperability woes", seems to be the classic motivator behind big companies' interest in every tech trend. It was there with Big Data ("Who cares? Just throw it in a data lake!"). It was there with NoSQL ("Who cares? Just throw it in a document store!") It was there with XML ("XML is just one format, right?") It was there with COM/CORBA/AppleScript/etc ("The vendor can make their own data readable!") I wouldn't be surprised if, millennia ago, there were organizations trying to figure out how fluted spear heads might solve their communication woes.

luckycharms810 8y ago

In my experience data interoperability issues are usually resolved by writing adapters, and using a datastore with strict integrity constraints. This is essentially what creating a blockchain transaction is. The chain code is responsible for running strong integrity constraints on the submitted data, and the client must adapt the data as required by the chain code before submitting a transaction. You can't get rid of the work required, but you can create a system that enforces the rules.

ppeetteerr 8y ago

I don't think that the lay-upper-middle-manager (aka the customer) cares. It's all about looking good in your yearly reviews.

YetAnotherNick 8y ago

Matches with my experience. One guy was thinking about creating a google ads alternative, as according to his thoughts, google overreports the clicks, and blockchain will give accurate number of clicks.