Part III: Tech History, Google, and Picasa
There was a vision, once upon a time (actually about 1994), that a completely hardware independent universal software could exist. The software would run on any machine, at any time, and in any configuration suitable to your needs.
People like James Clark and Larry Ellison were loudly proclaiming the arrival of the "platform" on which all sorts of other software would run. Things like operating systems (made by Microsoft) and specific hardware chips (made by Intel) would become mere "commodities", which is a pretty low curse-word in software circles. After all, margins on software run up over 90% -- while "commodity" margins (ie. things like groceries and socks) run at 1-5%. Being a commodity sucks.
Alternatively, being a premium platform rocks. Of course, Clark had in mind his own little "platform play" -- Netscape. And Ellison and his buddies at Sun had in mind a pervasive Java platform that would run on Oracle "network PCs" (whatever the hell those were). All of these ideas went to hell under the morphing magic of Microsoft, who simply adopted all the good ideas and jargon, and shipped it. Clark and Ellison could have won, but they failed the crucial test. They didn't ship it! And Microsoft did.
Thus, history is written.
Where does Google play in all this? I'll tell you tomorrow....
People like James Clark and Larry Ellison were loudly proclaiming the arrival of the "platform" on which all sorts of other software would run. Things like operating systems (made by Microsoft) and specific hardware chips (made by Intel) would become mere "commodities", which is a pretty low curse-word in software circles. After all, margins on software run up over 90% -- while "commodity" margins (ie. things like groceries and socks) run at 1-5%. Being a commodity sucks.
Alternatively, being a premium platform rocks. Of course, Clark had in mind his own little "platform play" -- Netscape. And Ellison and his buddies at Sun had in mind a pervasive Java platform that would run on Oracle "network PCs" (whatever the hell those were). All of these ideas went to hell under the morphing magic of Microsoft, who simply adopted all the good ideas and jargon, and shipped it. Clark and Ellison could have won, but they failed the crucial test. They didn't ship it! And Microsoft did.
Thus, history is written.
Where does Google play in all this? I'll tell you tomorrow....
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