::scr IA Goldrush (was Ramblings of a Classic Refugee)

[Simon Batistoni]

On 12/03/02 09:12 +0000, Paul Sharpe wrote:
>
> > Yes, some people may remember me having this wonderful idea of distributing
> > music from unsigned bands online using the wonderful mp2 format (no, that
> > isn't a typo).  That was in [thinks] 1995.  mp3.com started just over a
> > year after I tested the idea with a couple of friends' bands.  I actually
> > considered patenting the idea, but decided not to because it was too
> > obvious.  I was insufficiently cynical and believed that patent inspectors
> > would actually care about the bit about how patents should not be obvious
> > to anyone already conversant with the field.
> 
> I think IUMA were already doing this in 1995.

Ah, IUMA, home of possibly the most twisted and brilliant dot com publicity
scam ever contrived. Just googling and reading about it takes me back to
those heady days of VC cash and endless Wired articles about how many
Learjets a self-respecting millionaire should own.

For those who don't remember, IUMA launched a contest where they'd give a
couple either $5000, or a lifetime's supply of IUMA music (bet some people
feel silly now) for naming their baby after the site. That is, I would have
had to officially name a child of mine Internet Underground Music Archive
Batistoni to win the prize.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/baby000816.html

I got a new sig this morning. I don't normally go for quotes, but it's
fairly appropriate to this discussion, and to life on the net in general.

Rapidly... slipping... off... topic... 

In an attempt to swerve back on topic, the esteemed owner of this site
mentioned in passing the other day that he's heard people suggesting that
the whole hot-button of IA and next-generation interfaces may well become
the next "in" thing, possibly spawning a dot com-style goldrush (economic
recessions permitting).

I *can* see it happening. There have been a lot of rumblings for a while now
on various of the tech and online news/opinion sites about new interfaces,
and removing the dying desktop metaphor. This list is positively bursting
with it, and in the programmer circles in which I move, the idea of creating
new and interesting interfaces to our machines has been a slow-burning but
deeply infectious meme.

Do those more involved in IA than I think this is the case? And if so, where
is the goldrush money going to go? 

Mainly to companies trying to shoehorn different metaphors onto the top of
Windows?[0] 

People consulting on IA for firms like Microsoft, or selling IA
innovations to them? 

People developing niche OSes and interface devices for embedded
applications, and increasingly portable computers? 

Someone sorting out the terrible tangled web of XFree86, so that *nix OSes
can move forward?

OSX finally being sorted out so that it really, really rocks, and takes the
world by storm? [1]

All of the above?


[0] - To be honest, this would be my bet while I'm wearing my "cynical" hat.
And most of them will suck, and disappear into a sink hole.

[1] - Mr Cynical Hat says "No", unfortunately. I think we're in for more
scutters/anglepoise lamps, white plastic and tellitubbies eyecandy from
Apple.[2]

[2] - I once said on this list that I quite liked the OSX interface. Now
I've used it a bit more. It's fugly.

-- 
"In marketing the word 'free' means the cost is concealed.        christopher
Nothing is ever free. There is always a price to pay, in                 ross
terms of money, or effort, or time, or quality."             'tunnel visions'