There’s a faint whiff of ridiculousness going around at the moment. If you’ve not been paying attention then don’t worry. Just read on and enjoy. Every man and his dog is trying to find reasons to slap 2.0 behind their favourite technology or marketing moniker. It’s seen as a hip way of distinguishing an offering from things that have gone before – at least that’s the snake oil theory 
And yes – I’m also referring to Office 2.0, which I’ll be attending in San Francisco (see sidebar events) but more of that later.
Parody sites are popping up everywhere. Some are witty with points worth making about how hyperblowy the tech industry has become. Ever it was so. How many software companies can you name that pad out their press releases with jargon only insiders can understand? Or which make up trading names that read like something born out of Teletubby mentality?
Dead 2.0 attempts to be witty but kind of misses the mark. Instead of finding out what’s going on, it opines, something I guess Stowe might call perspective. I call it for what it is. Turd 2.0 I don’t mind sites like these having a go because by the turn of the year, we’ll all have moved on and their reason for being will have evaporated into Internet history. On the other hand, Shel Israel injects a sobering note about the bubble nature of the current tech frenzy.
But then some of us are stuck in 1.6 – me included at times. That’s a good place to be. It’s where reality bites and BS stops. It helps me interpret and examine some of the things I read. Like the so-called wisdom of crowds. This has been hyped to ridiculous levels and yet I see no real evidence of sticking trends that fit the 2.0 moniker.
In my view, that’s because those of us caught up in this thing are living in a self-fuelling bubble, an echo chamber. Instead I see what I call the Lemming Principle, where digital groupies associate themselves with perceived popularity, endeavouring to turn whatever they’ve heard into some sort of monetized asset. It won’t happen. At least not in the business sector.
Consumers may want to be entertained and geeks may be thrilled by the constant stream of new things. But in the business world, there is a need for certainty, trust, longevity. Not forgetting the amortisation of existing investments. So do we need Office 2.0? Am I drinking too much of my colleagues Kool-Aid? In this case I think the answer is a qualified no.
When you look behind the moniker, there’s a lot of sorely needed common sense. Who wouldn’t want reduced costs? Yet there is phenomenal resistance. Is it the technology? In part the answer has to be yes. In any business of any size, the trend towards SaaS for instance requires an ‘always-on’ service. That’s fine when there are limited numbers of user but when, as today, a relatively big fish dives into the pool, the resultant displaced water can leave some of us high and dry. (Try reaching Ideas.Salesforce.com) Some of the resistance is unquestionably about the threats that JP Rangaswami identifies. But just as much is the hyperblowy nonsense out there which is turning CIOs and other IT decision makers off.
That’s why Office 2.0 is so important. The cast list isn’t just a bunch of the usual suspects. There are some incredibly bright people on the speaker roster. That’s not me being starry eyed. Go read their stuff and cast a critical eye. Judge for yourself. But. Expect some real surprises and results. Not froth. Expect intelligent debate, not hype laden BS. Expect people to talk about finding real world solutions, not flogging the next mega deal or mega trend. Above all, expect people who genuinely want to bring change for the greater good. That’s what having a 2.0 moniker is about. Anything else will mean I’ve wasted several weeks of my life and a small pot of cash. That doesn’t happen very often around casa Howlett.
In the meantime, I’ll bet Microsoft and Sage are glad they’re close to releasing version 12 of their flagship products.
UPDATE: Sometime in the middle of the night, Crispy found another box – Ideas.Salesforce is working now.
Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0, office 2.0, SaaS, web 2.0
