FOWA '09 Hightlights
Once again the Future of Web Apps was a great event. For me it wasn’t the epiphany moment that it was last year when I found that I wasn’t the only person thinking about the things that dwell in the back of my mind - perhaps it was for others. But it was very enjoyable and many of the topics of discussion started me thinking again.
I think the highlights were:
Cat Lee from Facebook announcing the opening of their translation systems to external sites. This means that you can add some simple code to your website that allows any of your users who are also Facebook users to provide translations into an alternative language.
The translations are recorded within Facebook’s system but are linked to a context that means that the translation of a phrase for your site is not the same as that for someone else’s, for example, ‘application’ on a banking website means something very different to its use on a software developer’s website.
Facebook’s systems then allow you to set the criteria for accepting translation rules or specific translations.
Alex Hunter - previously of the Virgin Group spoke about the impact of digital media on brands and brand communications. Nothing really new, but Alex delivered the key messages about how brands engage with customers so clearly and powerfully, that they really went in:
- listen before you talk
- be where your customers are, don’t expect them to come to you
- don’t treat them all the same
- engage with online customers in the real world too - meet-ups are great at building loyalty
Simon Wardley always gives a great presentation. As an expert in cloud and utility computing he provides clarity on what is actually happening in the computing resource market and shows how it is nothing new, but is just another industry moving its offerings along the path from innovation, through productisation to service provision.
This knowledge gives many people confidence about the validity of cloud computing and helps the realisation that it is not just another cycle through the desktop vs mainframe loop. But more importantly it lets us see that the important issues in this transition are the same as other industries have had.
- open standards. Without standards for how utility computing power is provided, we will end up with the inability to switch between suppliers quickly and easily. Imagine that you had to replace all your desktop software if you wanted to switch from Dell to HP/Compaq computers. This is known as lock-in. If the standards are not open, if they are set by one vendor, then that vendor will have the ability to bend the standards to their own advantage, rather than to the advantage of all of the customers. Imagine if Tesco could set the standard for the provision of groceries that all other supermarkets had to abide by.
- transparency. If we don’t know where the computing power behind our products and services comes from then we cannot understand and mitigate any of the risks introduced. Would you base your continued business operation on a service that relies on the power supply to a village somewhere in Uzbekistan? Now where exactly is your email server?
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Saul Cozens's blog posts
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