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Why hasn’t software like this
been brought to market sooner? The Software Industry has evolved in a Fragmented and Reactive way without a master plan. Large vendors have put more focus on protecting their franchises rather than how forces like Email, the Internet, and Search have created new challenges for Users. Today, Software Industry Market Forces are coalescing in such a way that the Information lives of most Consumers and Information Workers share common characteristics. Google calls this the “Consumerization of the Enterprise”. Focusing on the reasons why people need and use information rather than which Vendor owns and controls pockets of Information will better serve the User Base and accrue loyalty and market share to the Vendors who provide such User Centric Solutions. The Netscape vs. Internet Explorer anecdoteBack in the mid 1990s when Microsoft felt they were being left out of the Internet Revolution, a crash program was put together that eventually produced the Internet Explorer Web Browser which ultimately dominated the Netscape Browser which was the early market share leader. Windows Users were now provided with a Free Browser that allowed them to have a full Internet experience. So what is the point here? Microsoft designed built Internet Explorer simply to dominate the Browser arena without being concerned that the Windows User now had yet another type of Information to manage in a way that was not compatible with the Document Centric mode already in place for all other Windows Applications. Hindsight is 20/20, but what if Microsoft would have considered Information Workflow in such a way that things you found on the Web could be treated just like other Documents? The i360 E+ Researcher provides a glimpse of how the Browser might have evolved had Microsoft been more concerned with meshing the Windows User Experience with the Internet Browsing Experience than with just marginalizing the Netscape Browser. Let’s take a fresh look at how and why Users are exploiting Search Technology, look closely into their follow on Workflow and take the “Next Steps beyond Search”. The FlickR / Yahoo anecdoteWell before Yahoo acquired FlickR Photo Sharing Technology they had embarked on a very intense Research Project focusing on sophisticated Image Recognition Software to allow the possibility that People could be programmatically identified in Digital Images. Yahoo focused a cadre of “Rocket Scientist” level engineers on this problem and was 3 years into the effort when they recognized that FlickR was becoming immensely popular in the Market and was using Tagging as an alternative method to associate People, Places, or Things with Digital Images. Yahoo’s Chief of Search Technology who had been immersed in solving the problem of relating People, Places, or Things to Digital Images programmatically, found the simple Tagging approach so elegantly appealing that he said: “When I saw FlickR, it made me want to tear up my MIT Diploma!!!”. Yahoo bought FlickR… So what is the point here? i360 was not started as a Computer Science experiment. It was built from the ground up with a constant focus on the basic Information Management frustrations experienced by Users every day. Let’s continue to improve Search Technology to provide more and more useful and relevant Search Results. But let’s also complement these advances with simple User and Mission Centric Workflow Processes that will allow Users to efficiently and effectively follow up their Searches and easily produce more Content to provide even more useful and relevant Search Results. The Microsoft Longhorn WinFS anecdoteWhen Microsoft unveiled their Longhorn initiative in the fall of 2003, arguably the most compelling pillar of the architecture was a Technology called WinFS (Windows Future Store) which espoused a vision to address many of the problems outlined earlier in this Document. It was perceived that managing Documents, Email, Web Content, and other Information spread across multiple Information Silos was a major Information Management Problem. At the time of the Longhorn announcement infoGenome’s Founder was immersed in the implementation of some vertical Applications which had similar challenges regarding the integration of dissimilar Information which might pertain to the same Task or Mission. He was excited by WinFS and when it was also announced that WinFS was to be delivered no earlier than 2007 he decided to generalize the vertical approaches he had been taking and build out some base Technology that ultimately became infoDNA. This infoGenome Project was codenamed Sooner and was not meant to compete with WinFS, but rather, to deliver applications which were consistent with the WinFS vision much earlier than 2007. When WinFS was closer to delivery, infoGenome intended to replace its based Technology with WinFS and become the most experienced ISV layering proven applications on top of this new Microsoft Technology. So what is the point? Here it is 2008, WinFS was shelved years ago, and the User still has the same problems highlighted by Microsoft in the fall of 2003. Do some Web Research on WinFS and its history and demise. We have our theories, but we don’t know for sure why such a compelling Technology never made it to market. The point is, the Users still have major Information Management Problems and i360 Technology is poised to relieve much of the Pain.
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