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June 22, 2006
The Magical Disappearing Desktop
I went to the first cocktail party tonight and, I had about four light beers (I am watching the ole’ waistline) followed by a Martini. Needless to say, I have a nice buzz but, what I love about blogging is that it is real. I will not edit this post too much. I will just try to share what it is I am thinking and feeling (and hope you chalk the typos up to alcoholic mistakes).
As I sipped my reduced calorie libations I walked around and witnessed the heart and soul of the second coming of the web. Guys and girls around my age (29) pitched their hearts out about products they designed and have taken to market.
Was their a common thread in the room? You bet there was!
The most prevalent topic was not social media (although that was overwhelmingly present) it was not RSS, not User Generated Content. The main takeaway that I left the room with was the seemingly inevitable dissipation of the desktop.
Product after product (e.g. Sharpcast, Soonr) was aimed at providing consumers with ubiquitous access to information. The pitch was “we are blurring the lines between the internet and mobile and providing you with a hosted solution for all you digital media, and not only that, we are allowing you to share your information with your friends”.
I left thinking, “this is great but, how will all these companies, with little differentiation survive? Is the desktop doomed? Should I have another drink?”
Posted by Adam at June 22, 2006 05:25 AM
Comments
What does this mean- they are trying to get rid of the desktop?
Posted by: Jessica at June 22, 2006 05:11 PM
Jess
It is not that the desktop is going to disappear however, broadband penetration and low cost information storage have allowed for centralized systems that operate in a similiar fashion to those that reside on the desktop. In light of this, why have all of your information on a local machine that is accessible locally when all of your information can reside "out there" in a safe and useable repository?
This is one of the more interesting probes that is often brought up in technorati circles. I will try to address this more in the next few days
Posted by: Adam at June 22, 2006 06:05 PM
I hope I am interpreting this posting correctly - To the best of my knowledge, I believe that "safety" is the keyword in this matter. The desktop, I feel, is the few places that most people like to believe is their territory - a sense of ownership that differentiates them from the rest of the internet. The sense of privacy that comes from your personal computer rather than from having a central "internet hub," might be completely lost (Keep in mind, I'm thinking to the extent that people will basically have a computer to perform one simple task - connect to the internet - the rest can all be done online) In light of this I think that having something like basecamp for files is a great idea - but the privacy barrier might be a difficult one to break. Maybe there could be a mid-point to this type of program? Not so much a dissipation of a desktop but more like a supplemental hard drive? Something that will be more developed that basecamp but works as efficiently a desktop?
Posted by: Joshua Rao at June 27, 2006 08:33 PM
Adam, I don't think it is that the desktop is disappearing. In fact, the goal is to make the desktop more relevant by giving seamless access to it from everywhere else, and frankly, vice versa. The magic is going to be is in how easy and transparent you make this to the user.
Anyway, you should try out the beta version of our Photos product from www.sharpcast.com, which is a preview to this future. You will see how seamlessly push, instant synchronization makes even the syncing transparent to you and gives you a one-stop shop solution for sharing, syncing, backing up and accessing your photos from anywhere.
And, you should absolutely have another drink. It is a Friday afternoon ;)
Cheers,
Gibu Thomas
CEO, Sharpcast
Posted by: Gibu Thomas at July 8, 2006 12:23 AM