3 ms·

Scenario A: “I want to buy VisiCalc/Aldus PageMaker/Microsoft Exchange/Photoshop. What’s the best computer to buy for that?” Scenario B: “I want to buy a Mac/P

Scenario A: “I want to buy VisiCalc/Aldus PageMaker/Microsoft Exchange/Photoshop. What’s the best computer to buy for that?” Scenario B: “I want to buy a Mac/PC. What’s the best spreadsheet/word processor/email program to use on that?” Prior to the rise of monetizable web applications, only Scenario A reflected a developer in control of their destiny. Scenario B represented a situation where the platform vendor was gradually "commoditizing their complements,” to borrow a phrase from Joel Spolsky. The Web has created Scenario C, “I want to browse the web and use web applications.” The web business developer may be in control of their destiny. Then again, we may be looking at Scenario D: “I want to type ___ into Google on my cheap mobile device with its free operating system.”

bilbo0s 15y ago
More appropriate 'D' -> I want to type ___ into my cheap mobile device with its free operating system." No one will care if it is Google that gets searched. Only that an answer is forthcoming...or maybe even an app.
Gormo 15y ago
Even in scenario B, for most of the '90s and early '00s, a Windows-based PC was the presumed default platform. If you said "I want to buy a computer", it would normally be assumed that you meant Wintel. Scenario A, was, until relatively recently, only meaningful for very specific application categories: if you did DTP, you might buy a Mac, if you did video editing, you'd use an Amiga, and if you did research, you'd get a Unix workstation. But almost all non-specialist applications, and even most specialist software, was targeted to the DOS/Windows platform, leaving most developers just as much in control of their destiny as in the earlier iteration of scenario A, if not moreso, since they didn't have to expend capital porting their products to a half dozen different platforms and gamble on which platforms would survive. Platform vendors successfully 'commoditizing their complements' is a very new phenomenon, and one that's attributable to the vendors integrating their own distribution channels into the platform. Scenario C may be helpful for developers' independence, but desktop/native applications aren't going anywhere in the short term, and the threat of Scenario D - the web itself becoming a more closed, regulated platform due to the influence of Google/Facebook/etc. - still looms on the horizon. What might be helpful is an open, distributed software sales channel that can compete with the various proprietary app-stores across multiple platforms. Content retail needs to become a protocol, not a place. But this is probably a relatively easy technical project and a tremendous marketing challenge.

bilbo0s 15y ago

More appropriate 'D' -> I want to type ___ into my cheap mobile device with its free operating system." No one will care if it is Google that gets searched. Only that an answer is forthcoming...or maybe even an app.

Gormo 15y ago

Even in scenario B, for most of the '90s and early '00s, a Windows-based PC was the presumed default platform. If you said "I want to buy a computer", it would normally be assumed that you meant Wintel. Scenario A, was, until relatively recently, only meaningful for very specific application categories: if you did DTP, you might buy a Mac, if you did video editing, you'd use an Amiga, and if you did research, you'd get a Unix workstation. But almost all non-specialist applications, and even most specialist software, was targeted to the DOS/Windows platform, leaving most developers just as much in control of their destiny as in the earlier iteration of scenario A, if not moreso, since they didn't have to expend capital porting their products to a half dozen different platforms and gamble on which platforms would survive. Platform vendors successfully 'commoditizing their complements' is a very new phenomenon, and one that's attributable to the vendors integrating their own distribution channels into the platform. Scenario C may be helpful for developers' independence, but desktop/native applications aren't going anywhere in the short term, and the threat of Scenario D - the web itself becoming a more closed, regulated platform due to the influence of Google/Facebook/etc. - still looms on the horizon. What might be helpful is an open, distributed software sales channel that can compete with the various proprietary app-stores across multiple platforms. Content retail needs to become a protocol, not a place. But this is probably a relatively easy technical project and a tremendous marketing challenge.