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NYT on online word processors
The New York Times today covers the menagerie of online "productivity" apps, specifically word processors. From Recasting the Word Processor for a Connected World:
Web applications, in theory, can match anything we see on desktop computers and then do them one better: putting applications like spreadsheets and word processors on the Web means that several people can swap or work on the same document or spreadsheet at the same time without having to e-mail it back and forth.
It's nice to have alternatives in this market - what once was a monopoly is becoming competitive, which is good for everyone (except the monopolist).
But these tools don't solve the "productivity problem." People's key unmet need is a set of skills for dealing with information overload. (My upcoming book Bit Literacy describes those skills.)
Why don't technologists "get" the issue, and why doesn't the media cover it better? Partially because Silicon Valley often suffers from groupthink... everyone rushes after the same solution (online apps, wow!) rather than thinking beyond the technology to the real problem.
And yes, Silicon Valley remains the center of technological thought... from another NYT story today, When It Comes to Innovation, Geography Is Destiny:
In short, “geography matters,” Professor Romer said. Give birth to an information-technology idea in Silicon Valley and the chances of success seem vastly higher than when it is done in another ZIP code.
I just hope that the ideas in Bit Literacy manage to spread, despite my being from New York City :)
This is a perfect example of how products and businesses are formed. People fail to think from the customers or end users perspective. I've spent the better part of my life as a professional consultant. Time and time again companies build business processes or products without asking the question "What does the customer want?"
Totally agree. An online word processor may be shareable but it's also inaccessible if you are offline. What we really need is a platform that allows you access to editable content from anywhere any time.
You're quite right. (a) There aren't enough simple applications out there which are "good enough" to do the job and are not overloaded with features and options; (b) Sites like YouTube are great for diversion but not particularly useful for getting serious work done; (c) Things such as newsfeeds (RSS, etc) and weblogs are great if used judiciously, but can quickly worsen your information overload rather than providing you with relevant essential information; (d) Hype rules -- they've gotta have some way to induce investment and sell more products, haven't they!
I do believe your ideas in Bit Literacy may spread even though technology may sit in Silicon Valley, the reason is that usability and good UI does not sit there innovation in user experience comes from all over the world where the user is king and where technology needs to follow business and customer requirements to get paid.
A good example is new ATMs for people with English as their 3rd or 4th Language this will never come from Silicon Valley, the ATM sofware maybe but the interface could never work in Africa so technology takes its lead from UI professionals here. WAP great idea, but rarely used in the 1st world as everyone has a computer again look at 3rd world countries, where the mobile phone is their only link to the outside world and that is where innovation lies. I am in South Africa and very rarely look to Silicon Valley for inspirational thought the basics yes, but innovation and solutions never, your site among others are key at giving the ideas and then the users does the rest. We (usability professionals) sit outside this Geography designing practical solutions for our markets. The only thing I really need from Silicon Valley is the name of the person responsible for the new Word and Visio application I would like to have a word with them about usability and compatability.