Scoble brings up an interesting point about whether or not “small thing” actually make a difference in the computer industry or any industry for that matter. I definately agree with him that small things can and do make a very big difference. For example just look at how quickly Firefox has come from near obscurity to being featured in nearly ever business magazine from Business Week to Fortune to this month’s Wired where Firefox developer, Blake Ross, is featured on the cover. I’ve been running Firefox for about 6 months or so but even a couple of months ago very few of my friends had even heard of the program, and many of them work in the computer industry. Now, even my father has said goodbye to IE and is happily using Firefox.
My hope is that Firefox provides a much needed kick in the butt to Microsoft so they will begin to innovate again. Even with the millions of Firefox downloads Microsoft still controls over 90% of the browser market so I’m not holding my breath that they will see a need to put much effort into a product that doesn’t drive revenue. I’m still waiting for my copy of “Windows XP Reduced IE Edition”.
Napster is another small idea that caught fire in a very short period of time and the repercussions are still being felt even though the RIAA shut down the service. But it’s too late as the cat is out of the bag and people got a taste of how powerful P2P technology is. How about Bit Torrent? Seems like you can’t pickup a computer magazine without reading about Bram Cohen’s creation that’s reportedly using up a third of all internet traffic.
I’m excited to think about what small things will become part of our lives over the coming years.
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