Capital & Code

I have just finish reading a post from Joel on software.

It is a recommended read for anybody that wants to understand how to distinguish IT vendors that are down to earth or Astronauts. This is the post.

He talks about the big Microsoft and there way of selling a synchronization service for all our devices…PC, mobile phone, laptop, etc. How they tried to sell this technology way back in 99, calling it “Hailstorm” and how they are renaming it to Live Mesh.

This is typical in the software industry, where companies want to reinvent there re-engineered software or platform, so they can make it easier to sell. For people that are not inside the industry it is very difficult to know this.

But following a couple of steps, will make it easier for non-tech people to differentiate an innovative technology from a remake:

1. Search Engines. I know this is what everyone says, but it is the best way to know what it is out there, what are the nearest competitors, but also when was this technology developed or talked about. Just type “XXXX(year) bla blah blah (technology)”. Try to start searching from 2000 and forward until the current year, you will be surprised on your findings.
2. Open Source. There will be plenty of open source projects that might do the same thing as the software that they are trying to sell to you. You can find plenty of projects in SourceForge website. You can also find that there might be a community behind the application, that you can get some feedback from.
3. Blogsphere. See what bloggers have to say about any given subject, it might not be accurate and it could be misleading, but it is a clear message on what the majority of the users opinion is. Do not take their point of view for granted thought, as any persons point of view might change in the long run. This can be a good measure on how far the technology has been deployed, how deep inside your market it has penetrated and the user adoption.
4. Peers aka “SocialNetworks”.  This could be the first source of information. But since we are dealing with technology, I am supposing not many of your contacts are tech say, but you never know when the “6 degrees of separation” might kick in.
5. Users. Every “decent” software company should have at least a support forum or a wiki. Where there users can gather around certain topics or issues. Make sure you check those and see the response times from the software provider. See how they react and response to every kind of subject, that you might be related to.

I have found that these are the best ways to get to know a technology before implementing it or buying/subscribing to it.

Still there are many options out there to choose from. Note every solution is suited for everybody. Some might be more developed and implemented than others, but that does not necessarily mean that it is the best choice. Use to your advantage the many free trials out there. Since diversity is what makes things evolve and improve. Dont stick just to the solutions that everyone has. Explore……

I ran into the following video from London Barcamp No.3.

The speaker is a guy from Holland named Reiner Zwitserloot talking about monetization from the “Long Tail”. The video is here.

It was quite interesting to get a perspective on how peoples behaviour of paying for services and buying products is changing dramatically.

This video tell a good story on how the consumers are more willing to pay for a service or product, where they can dictate the price based on the level of service and the quality of the product.

The housing and real estate industry should take a good long hard look, on how they are doing business right now and how this could pose a problem for the younger generation. This new era of prosumers.