*>>If you’re going to say that Google didn’t revolutionise search because they didn’t invent it*
No, that's not what I am saying at all. They *did* revolutionize search. They did lots of cool back-end integration. They built a very, very profitable ecosystem based upon search. But they did not create a paradigm shift. Nothing shifted. We still use web mail like we did before, and we still search (largely) like we did before. GoogleWave had the potential to be a paradigm shift, and if it had worked, we'd all be communicating very differently than we do today. It could very well have killed email (and Google wouldn't have cared because it was tied into their search backend just as neatly). IMO, Google+ only exists because GoogleWave failed. (Or, at the very least, it exists in its current format because GoogleWave failed) Every escalation of technology or innovative deployment is not a paradigm shift. Amazon cloud? Yeah, paradigm shift. And they built an ecosystem around it for good measure. iPod? A much better MP3 player, but not a huge shift. iPod+iTunes? Even tighter integration and appeal, but it's not like Blackberry didn't have a market long before Apple came out with theirs. Both Apple and Microsoft have benefited from optimization and greatly improving different mousetraps at different times, but IMO, a paradigm shift needs to have the *shift*, otherwise its just optimization -- desireable, but something else entirely. The original Palm Pilot introduced a *shift*. For the first time, it was now possible to manage your calendar *and* contacts while you were on the road, and have them sync up when you got back to the office. It moved the personal assistant or digital rolodex to a whole new level and drastically changed how people worked. To me, that's what a paradigm shift is all about. Desktop PC decentralizing corporate computing is a shift. *>> I’d argue that Google Search, and the concept of giving people “gigabytes” of “free” storage for Gmail were both game changers that propelled those two products from challengers to dominance.* Sure, the free storage -- greatly increased over competitors at the time -- was a competitive advantage, but gmail was/is web based mail. No shift. I am not suggesting that improvements are useless unless they cause a shift, either. The fact is, we only see those kinds of major changes a few times every decade at most. I'm just suggesting that we over hype improvements to the extent that everything is seen as a home run (or needing to be a home run), when a steady progression of singles and doubles will just as happily win the game, while being more likely to obtain. *ASB **http://XeeMe.com/AndrewBaker* <http://xeeme.com/AndrewBaker>* **Providing Virtual CIO Services (IT Operations & Information Security) for the SMB market…*** On Mon, Apr 22, 2013 at 6:03 PM, Ken Schaefer <[email protected]> wrote: > I’d argue that Google’s way of searching was/is sufficiently different > to the competition (Alta Vista anyone) to be considered some kind of shift. > **** > > ** ** > > If you’re going to say that Google didn’t revolutionise search because > they didn’t invent it, then arguably there’s been nothing revolutionised > for hundreds of years (which I think we both agree is false). It may be > just that we disagree on the degree of change required to call something a > ‘paradigm shift’, but > I’d argue that Google Search, and the concept of giving people > “gigabytes” of “free” storage for Gmail were both game changers that > propelled those two products from challengers to dominance.**** > > ** ** > > Cheers**** > > Ken**** > > ** ** > > *From:* Andrew S. Baker [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Tuesday, 23 April 2013 3:17 AM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: Color me skeptical**** > > ** ** > > *>>** They hit paydirt with "search, don't sort" and "sell > user data/advertising to others, not services to users". ***** > > ** ** > > But that wasn't a paradigm shift. They didn't invent search, and they > didn't invent selling advertising, and they didn't invent the freemium > concept or the concept where the user is the product.**** > > ** ** > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
