Random Culture

The Future of Software

The truth is, your desktop is becoming more and more irrelevant. Ask yourself this question: How many of the programs you use on a daily basis are online instead of running off your desktop? Adobe has announced that they plan to release a web-based version of Photoshop in the next 6 months. This is a huge deal, not only because such a major software is making the move, but because of the business model behind it.

According to an article from CNET, "the hosted Photoshop service is set to be free and marketed as an entry-level version of Adobe's more sophisticated image-editing tools, including Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. Chizen envisions revenue from the Photoshop service coming from online advertising."

In the next year or so, we're likely to see others follow-suit, particularly if the business model pays off. That is wholly dependent on how the ads are integrated into the offering, and if consumers find them worth the trade-off for the price.

Read the full CNET article here.

Websites as Graphs

Websites as Graphs is a cool applet that visually maps out any URL you put in. Pictured here is what the graph for Random Culture looks like. Visit the site and make your own, or check out the huge amount of these graphs that have been uploaded to Flickr and tagged "websitesasgraphs."

Link via Zach Klein.

Nike & Apple = Nike+

Nike and Apple have teamed up to create shoes that integrate with your iPod. You basically get audio feedback about your performance, and software that tracks it. Pretty interesting stuff. Learn more by checking out the great website they built at: Nike.com/nikeplus/.

And oh yeah, Nike USA redesigned their homepage, too.

Microsoft Video Podcast: 10

Microsoft has launched "10", a site that features a daily video podcast. I can't get the best idea of what it's all about based on just a few episodes, but the site says it has something to do with technology news. Based on the content that's up, I wouldn't go that far. Visit the site and check out the video podcast for yourself: www.on10.net.

One of the interesting things about this new effort from Microsoft is that *gasp... they're allowing Quicktime downloads of the podcast, not just wmv files. Kudos for that.

Adobe: Copydetected.com

Adobe has launched Copydetected.com, a microsite with "webisodes" aimed at software piracy... and the execution is less than stellar. The videos aren't entertaining at all, and I feel the same reaction as I did hearing the RIAA blabber on about how every time music is downloaded, a kitten dies. The Copydetected.com site asks the question: "Haven't you ever thought that copying could seriously damage your image?"

Um... No, actually. Does Adobe really believe anyone is swallowing this marketing speak?

Adobe isn't only insulting people's intelligence and failing to entertain them, they're frustrating people before that can happen. According to Adverblog, they found out about it in the following way:

"This morning I received an email from Adobe telling me about the webisodes. I didn't know I signed up for such email (I received it on my private account), but this is not the point. The email was well designed but it contained a huge video attachment of about 2MB. I wonder which are the results of such mailing. How many recipient have actually downloaded the full message? How many opened the attachment?"

Identity 2.0 Keynote

Dick Hardt, founder and CEO of Sxip Identity gives an amazing presentation as the keynote for the O'Reilly Open Source Convention on the idea of Identity 2.0. I can't stress enough how great this presentation is...

Here's the Identity 2.0 presentation
And here's Dick's blog for more information.

Google & Sun WebOS?

Whoa... big announcement coming today. Google and Sun are apparently announcing an office suite based on Open Office, and available via the web. This is a HUGE announcement. Microsoft better be quaking in their boots.

Read more about it here, here and here.

Thanks to Dave for the info.

Adobe is Blogging!

That's right... Adobe seems to have taken the plunge into blogging, although we'll have to wait and see how things develop.

According to the blog of Gavin McKenzie, who seems to be spearheading the effort, "we have only a few blogs with about as many entries.  But, I personally favour this approach rather than keeping blogs.adobe.com under wraps and attempting to prime it with content."

Hopefully, it won't stay this lean over time...

But it appears that Adobe is committed to getting feedback on the effort, as Gavin also mentions in his first post: "Over the coming weeks I fully expect to discover issues and areas for improvement — please let me know either via comments or email if you spot something that isn’t working or have a suggestion. Suggestions for types of blogs that you wish to see are encouraged as well."

I've got a couple...

1. Don't hide categories behind a click
2. Put some Adobe branding on these suckers...
3. External links anyone?
4. Cross-links to the other Adobe blogs?
5. Most recent posts on each blog?
6. How about some topic-specific blogs?

Link via Biz Stone, Genius.

The Fortune 5,000,000

Jason at Signal vs. Noise has written a great post about the future of software companies. As he points out:

"The most innovative software designed over the next 10 years will 1. be web-based, 2. will come from small teams, 3. will come from self-funded companies, and 4. will be for the “side-business” or 1-10 person business market."

I couldn't agree more. I think the stress here should be on "innovative." I think we can already start to see this happening, with apps like del.icio.us. And the "long tail" is why these companies will succeed.

"When you think small business, think 1-10 people not 50-100. There’s an endless supply of 1-10 person companies. Who cares about the Fortune 500? It’s time to care about the Fortune 5,000,000. Forget the enterprise market. Forget the mid-sized company market. Build for the smallest of small companies and you’ll find a thirsty, neglected market waiting for you."

Check out the full post here

Microsoft Hawking R&D Work

Microsoft has started an IP Ventures site, offering licensing opportunities for various research technologies of theirs.  There are some pretty interesting things up there, like WiFi Positioning, Face Detection and Tracking, and yeah, some other stuff.  The price for licensing?  Aha.  Product roylaties or a share in the company.

I'd be surprised if they went through with it, but Microsoft would get a lot of cool points for this if they released all this code as open source.  Even if it was a non-commercial license.

Link to Yahoo! story.