The New Platforms
One of the nice things about being in the venture business is that one gets a large number of data points on what innovative independent software vendors are up to. In particular, it's interesting to watch what platforms they are developing on, as it is a leading indicator of which one the next killer app might pop up on. Circa 1995, if you were writing mass-market software, you were writing for Windows (client) or Unix (server). Circa 1998, if you were writing software, the server side was Solaris / Unix and the client side was the web browser.
Today, most of the innovative apps are breaking out on many different platforms.
- Server side business applications are mostly on Java, with a few on .Net.
- Appliances are all based on Linux -- it's stable, has the tools, delivers the performance and free is hard to beat when you're fighting for thin hardware margins. Microsoft is nowhere here.
- The amount of development and IP going into making Linux secure, fault-tolerant, high-performance, clustered, etc., is staggering. If anywhere near this effort went into developing a stable, documented, easy-to-use GUI for Linux, Microsoft would have a real problem on its hands.
- On the client side, the browser is still the first choice, although there is still quite a bit of Windows development going on -- in particular the sheer amount of R&D going into file-sharing technologies is very bad news for any media dinosaurs trying to steer clear of the tar pits.
- Windows CE is seeing some work. Entrepreneurs continue to ignore historical data and try to develop apps and services around next gen mobile phones. Anyone who's spent significant time in East Asia seems to be convinced that mobile phones are the next PCs.
- If Solaris is still a viable development platform, it's certainly not obvious from here.
- Palm and Macintosh development are mostly done by smaller outfits, out of the sight of VCs.
- ISV support for the game consoles is obviously huge, but done through traditional game developers and publishers.
Predictions: most killer apps will emerge first via web-based GUIs (client side) unless they involve 3D graphics or heavy filesharing, in which case they're Win32 apps. Server-side killer apps will more easily emerge on Linux than on Windows. Some of the more interesting consumer-facing server apps are emerging just as quickly on Linux as on Windows (PVRs, online photo albums, music jukeboxes). Fear the Penguin, indeed.
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Naval Ravikant (VentureBlog): The New Platforms: One of the nice things about being in the venture business is that one gets a large number of data points on what the innovative Independent Software Vendors are up to. In particular, it's Read More
Ventureblog.com has a superb piece on the platforms of choice in new products, based on the information they're seeing. Some of the observations do underline a generally perceived trend, ie. more Java, more Linux, more distribution, open standards base... Read More
Digital Lifestyles Resource Center. Neat. Other reads of the day... Seven secrets to judging a computer book (via digital-lifestyles) The New Platforms... Read More
Digital Lifestyles Resource Center. Neat. Other reads of the day... Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger" (via metafilter.com) Seven secrets to judging a computer book (via digital-lifestyles) The New Platforms... Read More
Digital Lifestyles Resource Center. Neat. Other reads of the day... Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger" (via metafilter.com) "Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, it doesn't feel anthropomorphic," said (Steve) Jobs, ticking off three of h... Read More
Digital Lifestyles Resource Center. Neat. Other reads of the day... Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger" (via metafilter.com) "Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, it doesn't feel anthropomorphic," said (Steve) Jobs, ticking off three of h... Read More
Naval Ravikant writes about what platforms innovative new apps are developed on nowadays:
Server side buRead More
VentureBlog has some great insight into where the next killer apps will come from.... Read More
Naval Ravikant has some interesting points on his vision of the future of technology platforms: <quote> ...most killer apps will emerge first via web-based GUIs (client side) unless they involve 3D graphics or heavy filesharing, in which case the... Read More
A few interesting tidbits from the Venture Capitalists over at VentureBlog as to what they believe will be the new platforms. As VC's, naturally, they learn alot about what the software startups out there are developing for. To summarize: Lots... Read More
VentureBlog: The New Platforms: Interesting post about the technology landscape from a venture capital firm: "One of the nice things about being in the venture business is that one gets a large number of data points on what innovative independent Read More
Andrew Anker on the New Platforms: "If Solaris is still a viable development platform, it's certainly not obvious from here." Or from "my here", either, i.e. CTO of a software startup.... Read More
A few interesting tidbits from the Venture Capitalists over at VentureBlog as to what they believe will be the new platforms. As VC's, naturally, they learn alot about what the software startups out there are developing for. To summarize: Lots... Read More
I discovered an excellent blog run by, get this, several venture capitalists out of Silicon Valley. Unlike many entrepreneurs, I am rather fond of VCs both because of my association with several in the Chicago area, but also because it's... Read More
As a blogspot user I do not have trackback, so let's consider this a substitute. I also had a question -- there is a conspicuous, to me, absence of Web Services mentioned in the article. Could be they are included in the Java/.NET biz apps category, but I just wanted to find out if that is so, and if not, then why not mention them?
You are correct - I'm lumping web services under Java and .Net. In fact, almost all Java and .Net apps that we see are being exposed as web services, whether for internal or for external use. Web services means so many different things, so few of them original, that I try and avoid the use of the term...
Thank you.
Do you see vendors packaging web services "as components" in a manner similar to .NET/COM components for reporting, graphics serving, etc. being sold now by the likes of Data Dynamics and ComponentOne?
ps. I did not want to presume and just send you an email, but do let me know if that is the preffered method for comments followup. thank you.
Con,
Here are a couple of very simple ways you can do TrackBack, regardless of whether your blog supports it - http://www.tradermike.net/2003/06/standalone_trackback_tools.html
This is something I've actually been rather interested in lately - are there any VCs that would be interested in giving money to a games company, or is it something that's so unheard of that nobody would give it a second thought?
I can easily see both ways :P