My Web 2.0 Trip

I went to New York for the first time in my life last week to attend a conference on Web 2.0 called AJAXWorld08. New York was probably as I expected it. In some parts you could smell the money, whilst in other areas it was obviously lacking. Amidst the very thoughtful layout of streets organized into a grid system (almost Milton Keynes like in its logic) one encountered examples of transport networks that appear to have evolved organically, untamed by man.

I have to say the conference was well organized. There was a rich tapestry of Web 2.0 speakers and a great many brave young start-ups. But the focus of the conference was deeply technical and appeared very light on corporate interest. Where were all of the end-users? It points to the fact that the IT industry is very good at convincing itself about the next big thing but can leave the business world behind. This absence of ‘business context’ left me naturally feeling like the proverbial square pin surrounded by round holes.

At NDMC we only ever think about technology in terms of the business context. Perhaps this is because Nick and I are not ‘gadget’ people. Given the choice we would both probably use a paper diary and print our reports unless there was a good reason why not to. I like paper (there, I confessed!). I think there are many examples of technologies that are NEW but do nothing to move forward the usefulness of computing to organizations and consumers. Take for example Windows Vista. Sure, it does more things than Windows XP, but XP is reliable and works reasonably well. I don’t think Vista has improved my user experience or saved any time. It has probably cost me more time with drivers not working and applications failing to execute. It hasn’t fixed any of the usability failings I would identify in XP.

I would argue that we all need to be more critical of technology. We should all expect more. (Would Captain Kirk be happy if his people spent an hour a day working on spreadsheets? I never saw that part of every day life in Star Trek when I was growing up in the 1970’s.) Where did we go wrong? Do we assume that Microsoft is cleverer than the rest of us - and so if they don’t offer it, we can’t have it?

When I attended AJAXWorld08 I was expecting to see some revolutionary technologies. Perhaps I did see some ‘small steps’ that might one day morph into giant leaps but in the micro-minutiae of technology presented over the 3 days it was difficult to filter out the business drivers from the technology pitches.

And I suspect that’s why the corporations weren’t in attendance. They don’t get it yet. What’s the story on Web 2.0 in terms of banking more business, reducing operating costs and achieving cashable efficiency savings? The messages are far too detailed at this stage in its evolution; the technology is much too young. Corporations need it packaging up into easier to eat chunks. And they want to see proof. Perhaps this is what we will see at AJAXWorld09 - Web 2.0 becoming Enterprise 2.0.

But of the people that attended this event in a blustery New York in 2008, which of these people – the adventurers of our generation - will become the software billionaires of this Century? Somewhere in the crowd I am sure these people were there - in which case we will say, “We happy few…”