I must break you

Finally got around to reading Dalton Caldwell’s letter to Mark Zuckerberg. If you are in the social software business you should too.

I can relate because I’ve been there - quite recently as a matter of fact. I won’t name names but it sounds like ‘sh*tter’.

Caldwell captures the essence of the challenge for developers like him, but also for the big social ‘platform’ providers.

Once you start down the slippery-slope of messing with developers and users, I don’t have any confidence you will stop.

I believe that future social platforms will behave more like infrastructure, and less like media companies. I believe that a number of smaller, interoperable social platforms with a clear, sustainable business models will usurp you. These future companies will be valued at a small fraction of what Facebook and Twitter currently are. I think that is OK. Platforms are judged by the value generated by their ecosystem, not by the value the platforms directly capture.

He’s absolutely correct, and if history isn’t exactly repeating itself, it’s at least rhyming.

I spent many years in and around the ecosystem of former platform juggernaut Microsoft (believe it or not, there was a time - not long ago - when Microsoft was not only a but the dominant force in technology. Yes, I’m that old…). When Microsoft was clubbing companies like IBM, DEC & Novell (again, I’m old) it was specifically because of the loyalty they had engendered from their developer ecosystem.

And when they started competing with that ecosystem in the mid-late ‘90’s, it was the beginning of the end (although my friend Ray Wang, among others, has been asserting that they are belatedly recognizing the errors of their ways).

For a more current example, take a look at the IOS vs. Android market - without 3rd-party developer support, it doesn’t matter how good your phone is. 

The biggest challenge facing Facebook and Twitter right now is that, because of the pressure being placed on them by the financial community, their need to monetize - directly - prevents them from having the time or the ability to cultivate the 3rd-party-developer ecosystem they need to establish their social platforms as dominant.

In many ways, it’s nice to be Zuck - but I’m not sure I’d want to be him right now. Even if he wants to be a good guy and cultivate Dalton and others, he can’t.

Whose hands does this play into right now? My money’s on Google. 

The underlying “big is bad” arguments with respect to Google are invalid as well, leaving aside the fact that software is made out of ones and zeros and barriers to entry are as low as a dorm room with an Internet connection.

That’s because antitrust proponents presume to replace today’s competitive dynamism with an even greater “monopoly” than Google—a powerful FTC with authority over the entire Internet and commercial sector. That is an offense to principles of free enterprise that exposes the notion that antitrust proponents abhor bigness or concentration of power. They in fact embrace power, not merely economic but coercive and unearned.

Senators Push for Antitrust Investigation Into Google | Competitive Enterprise Institute

Source: cei.org

The future is about the platform, and will be driven by control freaks

Finally read through this rant that a number of friends sent over yesterday, and a few thoughts spring to mind:

  • In a few years, we will be speaking of Jeff Bezos in the same hushed tones that we speak of Steve Jobs. Perhaps we should be today.
  • I suspect that Google management ‘gets it’ more and is less far behind than this one frustrated engineer thinks. (but then again, I’m not on the inside and he is, so what do I know?) I also wonder how much of a ‘mistake’ the release of this rant was, but it’s quite amusing that it was released (mistake or not) on Google+.
  • Culture - clearly - matters. And for all that ‘open, collaborative’ cultures are celebrated, control freaks like Jobs and Bezos seem to have some distinct advantages in delivering experiences that drive the types of businesses that are most successful in capturing fanatical customer loyalty.

Worth a read - thought-provoking stuff.

CNNMoney Tech Tumblr: Eric Schmidt thinks Bing rules

Right…

cnnmoneytech:

Image source: Google, with a little help from MSPaint

Was Eric Schmidt defending Google or Bing in his testimony to Congress on Wednesday?

Google’s chairman mentioned Microsoft’s search engine 11 times in his speech, praising it in every instance. He noted how Bing has “continued to gain…

Android tablets - I’m sold

Earlier this week, Woot.com (still one of my favorite websites) ran a special on Motorola Xoom tablets, which as many know was one of the first Android-based supposed ‘iPad killers’. I gave it some thought, looked around Amazon and found an even better deal on a refurbished (open box) unit, so decided ‘what the heck’ and pulled the trigger. It showed up yesterday.

Motorola Xoom

I have an iPad (first version) and, while I overall enjoy it (and definitely have come to appreciate the value of a tablet vs. a laptop for casual computing), I had been growing a bit weary of its shortcomings.

My impression after a couple of days? I love the Xoom - more than I expected. Since I was already sold on Android phones, perhaps I shouldn’t be so surprised, but I am.

Why? First (and probably most importantly) because I absolutely live in Google services - Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, Docs, etc.. - I am heavily invested in these services, and being able to simply enter my credentials and have everything there almost instantly is (sorry Steve Jobs) magical. It’s also a reason I am a Spanning Backup fan and advocate - because my life’s in Google’s cloud - so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Google devices work for me.

But it’s also the overall flexibility of the platform - I am an admitted gadget geek, and love to play around with and tweak my screens, my apps, and the various ways I want to do things. I want my devices to adapt to me, not vice versa.

Is Android for everyone? Certainly not. Apple has a huge advantage in fit and finish - while I am pretty impressed with the overall polish of Honeycomb, it is most definitely not caught up with iOS, and there are plenty of quirky menu structures and ‘how do I do this?’ moments. (some of those were alleviated since I’ve been using an Android phone so long).

Not to mention the well-known advantage Apple holds in developer support - I was able to find most every app I regularly use for Android (some even have tablet versions, with more to undoubtedly come), but there’s certainly nowhere near the breadth or depth of apps available that are available for iPad. I’m going to miss Flipboard in particular (Android has Pulse which is similar but just not the same), and also the gorgeous iPad version of Twitter.

It’s a trade-off, and as I’ve said many times, I am a fan of and have the utmost respect for Apple (I remain a very avid Mac user). But I’m willing to put up with a few seams and a few less apps to gain the integration, flexibility and customizability that Android delivers. It’s still early, but I’m sold.

Anybody want to buy an iPad?