thesis

WikiCalc is a new piece of online software from Dan Bricklin that is attempting to bring the venerable spreadsheet to the Web. NewsForge is running a review of the initial alpha release and it seems pretty good. Recently he was interviewed on the Gillmor Gang about this software and his ideas around it. It is a fairly nice idea now that we live in an Internet full of Ajax and rich interaction. My initial feeling was that he was angling for a Google/Microsoft/Yahoo buyout but surprisingly he has put the source code online for others to download. This is a good thing from a free software perspective and hopefully with the support of others there will soon be a viable (and hopefully embeddable) spreadsheet application for the Web.

There is a new AutoDesk blog about DWF from Scott Sheppard. He has an fairly nice overview of what a DWF is exactly and then goes on to explain why Adobe and AutoDesk are not 'at war' with their PDF and DWF standards. This is something I completely disagree with and I think subconsciously he does too with comments like "if you want to solve real problems... then PDF is not enough" and "never fly in a plane that was designed from a PDF".

Today Microsoft released a Beta of Microsoft Office Live, a set of online tools targetted primarily at small businesses. With the product Microsoft appears to be aiming its big guns at SalesForce.com rather than Google's GMail, GTalk and rumoured calendar products. It is also a push to provide extra value within the Office lineup now that free software like OpenOffice are generating serious competition in their bread and butter, writing, counting and presenting marketspace. Microsoft Monitor has a good article about what Office Live is not which is probably more helpful than the stuff that comes out of Microsoft PR.

Regardless of how it is adopted worldwide it would appear to be a very good value proposition to New Zealand businesses. Currently vanilla hosting (web/email) are relatively expensive and for decent web/email/collaboration services it is easier (and often cheaper) to host things internally. If Microsoft can introduce these services within New Zealand at the same cost as advertised in the U.S. it should hopefully cause a shakeup within the local pricing structure. $50-$60 per month for email, web and basic collaboration services is extremely good value especially if Microsoft can integrate these online services with their desktop bretherin (which they will no doubt do). Another important concern for any business will be the backup/redundancy services offered. At this point it is unclear if this data can be easily backed up locally in a relatively open format (not encrypted Office Live only files).

This is completely off topic but after reading and listening to a few things in the last couple of days it has got me thinking (and by the looks of it ranting). CNN Money has a fairly lofty article Imaging the Future of Google from four different scenarios: Google becomes the media, Google becomes the Internet, Google dies or Google becomes God. It all makes for an interesting read, even if some of the possible outcomes are rather far-fetched in a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy kind of way.

Recently Steve Gillmor on his podshows The Gillmor Gang (Captain Crunchberry Gang) and The Gillmor Daily (Gym Shorts) has enjoyed bringing up the question of who will prevail, Google or Microsoft? To Steve the battle between Microsoft and Google is a life or death one and something Microsoft is sure to loose. He views the Internet as the new platform, not the operating system. With this change the balance of power has shifted significantly from the ‘stagnant’ Microsoft to the ‘can do no wrong’ Google. On the Gym Shorts podcasts he heatedly discusses this opinion with Mike Arrington (of TechCrunch fame). Mike has recently met with Microsoft and seen what they have planned with Windows Live and he is “pretty excited about some of the stuff that was discussed”. Mike sees Microsoft’s command of the operating system and their ability to bridge that and a user’s Internet experience as something that will eventually trump Google. As it is Steve’s show he steadfastly controls the debate but unfortunately often fails to make his point or stick to a concise idea. Mike on the other hand strikes down most of Steve’s points and ridicules most of Google’s product line, except for PageRank, which he views as their only real innovation in the market-space. The podshows are a good listen but at times it would be nice to have a little less Steve and more guest, but as he says often it is his show and if you want to control the message make your own.

There is a lot of talk about Web 2.0, my paper to CAADRIA even mentioned it in the title. Whether its a fad or the next big thing is fairly uncertain but it does provide a nice general purpose container for a bunch of different read/write Web concepts like blogging, tagging, and RSS. Certainly there is a lot of hype around the whole thing but as a general theme for a bunch of technologies it is pretty strong.

What I do think it is achieving is the evolution of a far more conceptually and technologically richer Web space. The Web is no longer about hugely expensive and flashy billboards, tightly controlled portals or online stores with weird names. Sure all these things still exist but they are now taking second place to far more dynamic sites with their background and identity rooted firmly in the Web rather than being simply the extension of a conventional organisation's operations. Web 2.0 seems also to be more about empowering the individual to be able to do things like get their own 'stuff' online and track/search the Web in ways that make sense to them. MySpace, Blogger.com, Technorati and Flickr are all successful Web 2.0 sites that have these fundamental ideas at their core. Recently Apple announced iWeb which is the first 'traditional' application that attempts to blur the lines between the computer, the Web and your life.

Before Christmas I watched a video from the AutoDesk University keynote. The theme of the keynote was interoperability but the goings on concerned how different AutoDesk applications could talk to each other using DWG and DWF formats. It is rather ironic that a single silo is only just beginning to tout its ability to exchange data within itself whilst the IAI is promoting the adoption of a generic IFC model. Something that stood out during the presentation was that even though 'interoperability' was the theme there was no mention of IFCs. This is a clear indication that AutoDesk is concerned about the security of their silo and through the promotion of their own exchange standards they retain format control, and consequently customer subscriptions, to their AEC silo.

A few days ago Dave Winer wrote a good post on the real drivers (from his perspective) of RSS apart from himself was the publishing industry, namely the New York Times in 2002. His reasoning is quite interesting, the tech industry couldn't drive the adoption of a new standard because it would make the playing field too even. It makes sense for competitors to use different standards because it creates lock-in and along with lock-in you have control. It took the publishing industry, who at the time did not feel threatened by the online environment like they do today, took take the standard and put it to use. 

Everyone unfortunately knows DWG (or OpenDWG), DXF and DWF formats from AutoDesk but there are numerous niche model formats developed for specific AEC contexts and the Web. Whilst not household names, formats like CIS/2, IFC, VRML and X3D are interesting formats in their own right. The chances of any of these formats gaining industry acceptance is pretty low but this page from the National Institute of Standards and Technology provides a good rundown on each standard with referring links.

Rachel Dalton-Taggart has posted some 2006 predictions for the CAD industry. Blog use will grow, 3D will continue to be adopted at a snails pace, Adobe may begin a flirt into the 3D market and more software companies will move their software back to the Mac thanks to its growning popularity. I think the first two are pretty good, Adobe will be too busy integrating Macromedia into their product lineup and combating competing software from Apple and Microsoft. As for Mac migration it would be nice to see but unforunately AutoDesk and now Bentley are firmly entrenched in Microsoft's proprietary DirectX API and Graphisoft did not even bother showing up to MacWorld 2006 this year for the second time in a row.

This is loosely related to my posting a few days ago about Basecamp and 37signals. The Web 2.0 Show has put up an interview with the founder of 37signals and topics covered range from emerging technologies through to agile design methodologies and practices in place within the company. A fairly interesting little listen.