Nice to see that maybe, just maybe the Valley tech geeks (whom I love and have been adopted by as "half-geek") are starting to realize that people who "don't get it", actually may not get it, because they really don't see a need for some of the stuff that is coming out of "web 2.0" land at the moment. There is an entire universe of people who still don't know what a blog, myspace, youtube or flickr are, let alone digg or delicious. Maybe these companies are not doing a good enough job COMMUNICATING the VALUE of what is being created or-big gulp-they have nothing of inherent value to a potential customer base.
[in case you missed my point - that communicating word is code for good--aka--authentic marketing]
What is exciting to me about today's tech stuff is that much of it is focused on making it easier than ever for non-geeks to express and create and build cool stuff.
I want even more tools. But I want em even easier to use.
I want to be able to 'drag and drop' and 'mash' and 'smash' stuff together without asking for help from my developer buddies or spending an entire weekend learning code (or Ruby). I don't want to have to learn CSS (yes, I know it is awesome and easy, but not easy enough). I want tools that work as easily as scissors and pens and paint and I want to be able to find other people or businesses with like minded scissors and pens and paint. That may not be enough to sustain a lot of large businesses, but it sure would put the tools directly in the hands of the creators and make it really interesting to see what gets "pasted together".
As for the Web 2.0 madness, yes, there are a lot of tools and products masquerading as companies. Nothing inherently wrong with that (as long as they don't all expect to be the next Google) or are creating something of value that they believe in and are (perish the thought) having fun while they do it! It is still intriguing to me, even after almost two years of living in the Valley, that there is often a (faux) expectation of 'purity of vision' demanded of companies here that does not even cross the mind of many entrepreneurs on the "other coast". But I will leave that topic for another post.
OK - I am not actually sure where the above rant came from, but I think I got it all out of my system now. move along.
