Blog Yes & Know

Taking web apps out of the browser: Does anybody care?

In late October the Mozilla Corporation announced Prism, the new version of its Webrunner technology that lets web applications run outside the browser. Mozilla positioned Prism as an open alternative to Adobe Air and Microsoft Silverlight, two other efforts to enrich web applications. Mozilla called Air and Silverlight “proprietary platforms” that seek to replace the Web. By contrast, Prism is supposed to be a “powerful and open platform” for innovation.

To be reborn

There is this old chinese proverb: “Sometimes to be reborn, you must first die”. I always think of that when I see major companies floundering. Yahoo is likely today’s good example. A historical example could be IBM which went through a real and profound redirection before it came back strong with its services emphasis.

Winning Business Models: Evolve or die

You’ve spent years developing your product and its market. People, without much regret, pay hundreds of dollars to buy it. Everything gets better with each successive version as you add more and more functionality. Many have tried, but no one can even really dent your appeal or share. You’ve done so well at becoming the gold standard that your product name has become a verb. Your biggest problem is not adoption, but rather piracy. Seems like you have a winning business model.
Enter Web 2.0 where traditional software companies could not afford to match your truly impressive feature set–needed to challenge you at retail–a couple of guys with little or no funding can now duplicate the core functionality that accounts for the bulk of actual usage. Your lock on the retail market that worked so well for so long means nothing when Web distribution lets the upstarts go straight to the user.

With Our Sincerest Apologies to the Prairie Dogs

What’s happening? Have business leaders suddenly abdicated control? Are meeting financial expectations overtaking common sense and good business judgment? Or, have corporations lost touch with their customers?

Innovation: The Real Thing

Throughout the history of the tech industry, one of its guiding beliefs has been a faith in the power of innovation–that the company building the best mousetrap will win. But as outsourcing and web technologies continue to drive change, we’re starting to see the rise of tech businesses that specialize in business process rather than innovation. Innovativeness itself is a commodity to be managed through economic forces, rather than a craft to be nurtured.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong

The first rule of Internet marketing is: Be genuine.
Microsoft just launched a new version of its Zune music player, including an online community. Bill Gates has a personal profile in the community. Here’s what the New York Times wrote about it…