Imagine this is 1990 and you’re receiving Profit Watch by the medium of fax...
That’s more difficult than it sounds. Actually, it’s a horrible thought...
Anyway, let’s go with it.
I’ve sent a fax to you revealing that in just a few years, you’ll be receiving this missive via a new medium called “the Internet”.
Now you might applaud my insight – and share my view that a global network of interconnected servers and computers is a perfectly acceptable development.
Either that or you’d assume I’d got a touch of the Orwellian madness...
But it’s an interesting point; the idea that some trends explode like supernovas – while others break down and disappear like, er, Vauxhall Novas...
Malcolm Gladwell covers it in his excellent book, “The Tipping Point”.
He claims a complex organic and social relationship takes something five kids in a school yard in Middlesbrough are wearing... and dumps it front and centre on the catwalks of Milan...
It’s a really good read... and it got me thinking about how trends develop from their humble beginnings.
Why relevance could be the key to closing windows
For example – back to the Internet... initially, browser software was just a functional means to an end. A way of plugging your request into a list of potential providers.
Now it’s way more than that.
I use “Firefox”... and in it I can write, listen, email, organise and so on. Who needs an operating system when you have an Internet connection?
That’s the thing, isn’t it? I take it for granted, but if I look down at my taskbar, I can see that I’ve got three Word windows, four Outlook windows and two Internet Explorer windows open.
I’m also working from a couple of desktop folders – one of them is storing this very email as I type!
We’re so used to Bill Gates helping us to organise and process the things we need to do.
That’s why Microsoft is so massively massive – for 20 years they’ve shown us how to systematise our work. But what’s next? Will the browser really replace the Operating system in the future?
Quite possibly... as long as software becomes more intelligent at deciphering our preferences.
How many times have you gone onto the Net to search for something specific and instead found a really crowded hotch-potch of useless information?
Annoying, innit?
For me – the Internet can only really evolve to the next level once the way we interact with it becomes more relevant to us.
Anything that can cut down the amount of search time has to be good... and if I can type, organise, email and stream video as well then so much the better.
This, I feel will be the key to the next 10 years of Internet development. And if I come across a way to play it, I’ll fax you and let you know!
I’ll be back next Monday.
Until then,
Simon Munton
Profit Watch
