Billy Cripe, of the Fusion ECM (Enterprise Content Management) team threw us a trackback today for my bit on social apps. Billy came Oracle in the Stellent acquisition, and he’s 2.0 savvy. His status in Connect is DONT TASE ME BRO, alluding to the latest meme floating around the Interwebs.
I started to write a post that quoted him and debated his points, e.g. “Billy makes a good point, but . . .”
Eh. What struck me when I read his post was the difference between us and how we see the world of software. I don’t know Billy, but he seems to know what’s what. At the end of the day, he’s a tech guy, and I’m an apps guy. You can tell right away by our differences in position.
Tech guys say technologies are what *2.0 is all about because they build software that moves data. So, naturally, they tend to focus on data manipulation as the one truth. I like moving data just fine, so don’t hate on me for that.
He says data are the force behind Enterprise 2.0. Dude, data don’t do diddly. Not without people anyway.
Apps guys build software for users, and users == people. So, we tend to think about the DNA at the keyboard. I say New Web is all about power to the people. People do work, not data. People use software. People do stuff with technology that you can’t predict.
Case in point, check out this article (by way of Jason Kottke) from the newly freed New York Times.
The first mention of the World Wide Web in the Times in February 1993. According to the article, the purpose of the web is “[to make] available physicists’ research from many locations”.
Don’t know about you, but I’m no physicist. And yet I use the “World Wide Web” for lots of stuff.
We live in a self-service country, partly because it’s the old pioneer spirit and partly because it’s cheaper for business when the customer does stuff for you. We like to do stuff ourselves. Web 2.0 is all about the self-service Interwebs: my content (RSS), my opinion (blogs), my links (bookmarks), my friends (social networks). Billy agrees with me on this.
Enterturd 2.0 is not about data, however. It’s still about me, me, all me, all the time. Because I do the work (social apps). I share the information (social bookmarks), I consume the data (RSS), I spread the data (blogs, forums), I belong to teams and projects, I manage people, I am managed by people, I talk to customers (social networks).
New Web brings power to the people. That’s why I prefer social apps as a moniker and see it as the evolution of Web 2.0. Social apps empower me to do work.
It’s all about me. Just ask.
From one “all about me” person to another — I agree 100%. Although I do wonder what it might be like to not have to do everything for myself sometimes… Maybe I could have time to read all the interesting stuff you linked to…
From one “all about me” person to another — I agree 100%. Although I do wonder what it might be like to not have to do everything for myself sometimes… Maybe I could have time to read all the interesting stuff you linked to…