<<DigitalMe (the killer app) + NDS (the platform) equals revenue stream.>>
Ok, I can understand where you are coming from and believe me, I've had this discussion before in many places. Let me back up a moment because I think we differ in just one place.
From what I understand (and please let me know if I'm wrong folks) is that digitalme is NOT a product in the way that Visicalc was for Apple or the browser for the web. digitalme would be more like HTTP in your web analogy. It's the underlying technology that the app will sit upon.
See, a browser is an app which allows you to use HTTP to access HTML pages.
Whenever! is an app which allows you to use digitalme technology to access a digital ID held within a "vault" (NDS).
That's how I understand this whole digitalme technology from what I've read about it, heard about it and saw it do. But it will work in the same manner that you have spoken about. It will create a revenue stream for Novell, how and what that will be has yet to be determined by the people I spoke with.
Now this doesn't mean that they are missing the boat or losing precious time. What makes digitalme really wonderous and powerful is the directory and NO ONE has anything to compete with NDS. Do you think IBM decided to integrate it's WebSphere product into NetWare and NDS for no reason other than to thwart MSFT's E-Commerce thrust?
They see where Novell is heading with NDS, digitalme and i-Chain and they don't want to miss this boat. Everyone is listening and watching Novell right now and for digitalme to really be the "killer" technology we are all betting it will be, Novell will have to find a way to make it open source framework with little licensing or up front $$ as possible.
The lower the entry point the easier it will be for people to develop the right communities for digitalme to become the effective digital tool is should be. It will drive NDS sales into the stratosphere.
Let's face it, no one is going to buy into a proprietary system (if Novell holds it and doesn't make it a standard) that will ultimately become the only way to do business online. Let's learn from lessons from the past as you state, let's not hold too tightly to something that will become the center of our lives one day.
As for the killer app theory, the WWW was the reason the INTERNET reached the masses. That means any component of the web (HTTP, HTML, the browser) all play a role in this.
Let's remember that AOL put a graphical (proprietary) face onto the internet before the web became as pervasive to the point that it mattered. The web is barely 8 years old (first publicly accessible server went up in April 1991 actually) so let's not judge which one "app" made it so popular.
If you ask me, it was making things easier that brought people onto the internet and the browser had something to do with that yes. On the other hand, email is the most widely used process on the internet making up about 80% of all internet traffic at any given time. If that's a measure of "can't do without" then you could take the perspective that email is the killer app (as it's been often been referenced as).
:) Peter Strifas |
