Google Docs is an online productivity suite offering a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation application (Google, 2010). Despite being a web application, its functionality and user interface places it in direct competition with traditional desktop applications such as Microsoft Word and iWork.

Docs boasts many advantages over its desktop counterparts. Documents:

• are easily shared, instantly updated and can be accessed by multiple people simultaneously, 
• offer added functionality through application programming interfaces such asGoogle Lookup and 
• are backed up on many servers to ensure they are not lost. 

To encourage collaboration and ease of access, all documents are searchable anduniquely addressable through a URL. Furthermore, Google Docs ensures files can be accessed from any location with an internet connection, without the need to install an application (Strickland, n.d.).

Web browsers are responsible for rendering Docs’ user interface (UI) and a majority of the heavy processing is done server-side. Most popular web browsers are supported (see below) and when cross-referenced with browser usage statistics we find that 88.3% of the world’s browsers can use Docs. HTML and Javascript is used to render the UI client-side. AJAX script creates regular links to the server instantly updating the document when it is edited (Strickland, n.d.).

Docs is subject to limitations common amongst rich internet applications (RIAs). Browser, broadband speed and reliability limitations means Docs can be slower to access data and respond to user input when compared to desktop applications. File storage is limited by the allowance offered by Google (currently 1gb free). Furthermore, security concerns are often raised surrounding documents being stored online. Finally, Docs functionality is limited compared to the likes of MS Word (Strickland, n.d.).

ThinkFree is a word processer, similar to Docs. However, before using the RIA users download a java applet, this allows the application to offer greater functionality. This may be an avenue Google may need to take in the future to compete with the functionality of desktop applications (Gottipati, 2007).

Google docs and ThinkFree represent only a couple of RIAs currently on the market, with many more available or in development. Compliance with HTML5 standards will require browsers to perform tasks traditionally performed by operating systems and RIAs may replace a majority of desktop applications. This shift will see these services (applications) offer consistent interfaces and functionality, to everyone, anywhere, at anytime without the need for high powered processors or installation.

With the global movement towards RIAs is there any applications that won’t work as an RIA?

References

• Google. (2010). Welcome to Google Docs. 
• Google. (2010). System Requirements.
• Gottipati, H. (2007). Is Java more effiecient than AJAX for advanced web apps. 
• Strickland. (n.d.). How Google Docs Works.
• W3 Schools. (2010). Browser Statistics. 
• Wikipedia. (2010). Google Docs. 

 

Traditionally (before e-commerce), for a product to be successful it needed to have high-volume appeal. However, due to cost reduction and better targeted marketing (possible due to the Internet), money can be made selling to niche markets. Collectively niches can generate sales numbers similar to or better than traditional markets (Davis, 2005).

Steam is an online digital entertainment company that currently offers 1100 games for purchase, download and play from any computer (Steam, 2010).Compared to department stores that rarely offer more than 100 titles (usually the more popular ones), Steam’s range is simply larger and caters better to specific interests rather than current trends. Such business models are what Anderson referred to when he coined the term leveraging the long tail (Anderson, n.d.). 

Mindmeister user numbers

Question for Thought

References

Foursquare is a location based social networking game. Users ‘check in’ at locations announcing they have been there in competition to become mayor. People contribute through submitting their thoughts, locations, pictures, information about their current location and friends (Wikipedia, 2010).

Utilizing features only available on cell phones has heavily contributed to Foursquare’s functionality and success. Photos are taken using cameras, locations recorded using cell location services and the application relies on a phone’s connectivity (Foursquare, 2010). Combined, these features have created an application that couldn’t exist solely on a desktop computer or phone.

In the company of desktop computers, Foursquare can be used on iPhones, Android phones, Blackberrys, Windows mobiles and systems running webOS (Foursquare, 2010). An application is currently being developed for Nokia handsets (Guim, 2010). The way each platform is used to its strength and data is shared between devices and services, makes Foursquare a great example ofsoftware above the level of a device.

O’Reilly (2007) uses the example of iPhones being managed by iTunes to show how software can work in tandem to ensure a better user experience. Foursquare follows a similar model allowing users to manage their profiles online. This means users aren’t required to type or read great amounts of information into/from their phones. The mobile applications are then left to perform the task they are great at, being mobile and more so, immediatelyrecording users’ thoughts or pictures in the context of location, harvesting rich forms of media. 

Digg's API

Developer Support

Terms of Service

Conclusion

Question for Thought

References

'Data is the next intel inside' refers to data being more valuable than proprietary software licenses and the need for businesses to establish a data strategy. Many web applications offering low functionality, achieve great success through appropriately harvesting and managing data. Today I am going to analyze the role data management has played in the success of IMDB.com (Internet Movie Database).

IMDB hosts data about movies, actors, fictional characters, television episodes and video games. The company operates as a subsidiary of Amazon.com after a deal was struck in 1998. This allowed Amazon to advertise on the site and ensured the data would remain available to the army of volunteers who contributed to the site’s content (Wikipedia, 2010).

Data is submitted by public contributors, verified by paid managers and published on the site (Wikipedia, 2010). This data is then enriched through user interactions such as ratings, reviews and comments. Interestingly, unlike Facebook’s business model IMDB do not take ownership of the data users upload (IMDB, 2010). This may help to manifest trust and loyalty amongst its users.

Data hosted by IMDB has been accumulated since 1990 (IMDB.com, 2010) and is fundamental to the company’s revenue. The quantity of data hosted would be very expensive and time consuming to recreate which has secured the organization as a dominant player in the industry.

IMDB content can be used to power movie, television or celebrity projects and is marketed as authoritative and accurate information (IMDB, 2010). This data is sold as a subscription at $15000 per year as of March 1, 2010. Clatworthy (2010) suggests this will lead to no free application programming interfaces(APIs) being publicly available. Lack of APIs may have a walled garden effect and mean data is not extended beyond the limitations of IMDB’s functionality and data harvesting capabilities. In this linked article O’Reilly has outlined some applications an IMDB API could enable (O’Reilly, 2006).

In summary, IMDB illustrates how valuable data is however, O’reilly (2005) states

“we expect the rise of proprietary databases to result in a Free Data movement”

and this is already on the horizon with omdb.org(Open Movie Database) gaining momentum. If IMDB wants to stay competitive they may need to freely share their databases otherwise an open data solution may reel in its dominance.

References

• Clatworthy, D. (2010). IMDB API. 
• IMDB. (2010). IMDB 15th Anniversary. 
• IMDB. (2010) . IMDB Copyright and Conditions of Use. 
• IMDB. (2010) . Authoritative and Accurate Information about Movies & Television.
• MacDonald, D. (2008). Official IMDB API Where are you?. 
• O’Reilly, T. (2006). IMDB API.
• O’Reilly, T. (2005).. What is Web 2.0. 
• Multiple Authors. (2010). IMDB. 

The web 2.0 application being discussed this week is Isohunt.com which is a torrent hosting website, allowing its users to download nearly any type of media through a peer to peer network. Isohunt fits the definition of web 2.0 because, as more people use the service, it gets better (O’reilly T, 2005). As more people use Isohunt, download speeds (of peer to peer content) increase, as does the amount of content available.


Users make explicit contributions to isohunt by contributing to the help forum, adding comments about specific torrents, tagging media and forums, rating torrents’ quality and uploading new torrents. Despite the large number of people who use isohunt (20.66 million), only a small percentage (1.20 million) of these users are registered members who explicitly contribute (isohunt.com, 2010).


Members are motivated to contribute through community recognition. Notably, of the twenty-one commentswritten about a random torrent, five were thanking the person who uploaded it, this is a trend seen throughout the site.Isohunt also welcomes and recognizes its newest members on the homepage.


Isohunt implicitly collects data about the popularity of torrents through user interactions (user searches).This information is fed back into the system to display “Top Searches” on the homepage.


Other factors which may have contributed to Isohunt’s success include a transparent purpose for the service (which can be achieved through only three clicks), trusting its users which has lead to a self-regulating community (through the torrent rating system), developer APIs to offer further flexibility and folksonomy tagging which allows for more precise user navigation (Watson J, 2010).


When Isohunt was placed on the web, users decided the application’s purpose, currently it is sharing movies, tv shows and music, and how the application would be used. As the community’s values and needs change so will Isohunt assuming the freedoms which allowed its creation remain intact. The biggest threat to Isohunts flexibility in coming years may be media distributors who have filed law suits against the company and other Bitorrent services.


In summary, fundamentally, Isohunt is a site which allows users to share content and information. Without users it is worthless. Through harvesting collective intelligences, it has become an online community with valuable, meaningful content.


References:

isoHunt Inc. (2010) the BitTorrent & P2P search engine.

O'Reilly, Tim (2005) What is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. O'Reilly Media.