Tag: business

Wakoopa – one of those things that I don’t get

There are things that are as obvious as daylight.  There are things that I need to research and think over to understand.  And there are things that feel like I’ll never understand.  Wakoopa is one of them.

I first heard about Wakoopa back in April when I was in Amsterdam, at The Next Web 2008 Conference.  Wakoopa is a European social network that unites people who want to share the information about software they use.  If you are one of them, all you need to do is register at the network and download client software to install on your computer.  Once you are done, Wakoopa will track which software you use and how (often).  It will then upload these information to the social network, where you will be able to find other people who use the same software (advice? shared experience?) as well as other software that people similar to you use (expanding horizons?).

The booth of Wakoopa startup was one of the busiest at the conference.  And the company went through a few investment rounds, one of which I just read about in The Next Web blog.

And I still don’t get it.

First of all, I have the feeling that software moves to the web.  Not all of it and not as fast as I’d like it to, but the future seems to be pretty much web-based.  Secondly, those people who are technically literate enough to find, download, and install Wakoopa, are, I belive, literate enough to figure out their issues with current software and find similar software if need be, using nothing by Google and IRC.  Thirdly, there is this evergrowing privacy concern, that itches every time words “tracking” and “sharing” are used. Fourthly, there is the question of licensed software vs. pirated software, which needs to be addressed by way too many Windows users (primary target for Wakoopa software and social network).  Fifthly, there are likely to be quite a few conflicts between people at work and corporate sysadmins. Sixthly, …

With all that, I can still see that there will be a few people here and there who would probably like to participate in this experiement.  But, the thing that I don’t quite understand is how this experiment became so large.  I mean, there are millions of investment, thousands of users, and lots and lots of hype.  I don’t get it.  Anyone care to explain? Or guess maybe?


P.S.: Not that I am jelous of Wakoopa or anything.  They are doing something that apparently has a lot of demand, so I wish the best of luck to them.

How much for WordPress?

The other day Bloggin Pro posted a question “Would You Pay for WordPress and How Much?“.  Of course, I’ve already mentioned that I have no problem paying for WordPress.  How much?  Well, I think that around $50 per installation is a fair price.  But that is not for me to decide.

I thing I keep thinking about though.  A big part of what WordPress is, is it’s freedom. Anyone can get it. Anyone can use it for whatever they want.  Anyone can modify it.  And a lot of people do.  If WordPress will ever become commercial software, it will greatly decrease the amount of people who use it, test it, and develop for it.  And with that, the value of WordPress will stop growing as it is now.  Once the value of it will stop growing as it is now, a lot of people will reconsider their answer to the question “Are you prepared to pay for WordPress?”.

Gladly, Matt and the rest of the Automattic gang seem to clearly understand that.

What would you pay for?

Web Worker Daily is asking an interesting question:

which sites and services on the new web (defined however you like) are important enough that you’d pay for them? And how much? Or are you dedicated to always finding ways to do things online for free, no matter what the entrepreneurs might like to hear?

I try to find things that I need for free. But sometimes I don’t. Or things that I really like give me an option to pay for them. And then I do. Currently, I only pay for my Flickr account and Linux Weekly News subscription. I also donate frequently to sites and tools that I like, but that, I guess, doesn’t count.

If I had to pay for the tools I’m using today for free, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Goolge Docs, Google Analytics, Twitter, and del.icio.us would be on my list. I’d also had no problem at all paying for software: WordPress,  Firefox, Vim, Pidgin, Fedora Linux. And I would subscribe to TechCrunch, Web Worker Daily, and Slashdot. This probably sounds like a lot, but I really can’t imagine how I could keep up with the world without using all of these.

What about you?

Microsoft support – a myth or reality?

gapingvoid, a blog well known for cartoons drawn on the back of business cards, has this post about monetizing on open source software – a very old discussion, as we know it.  In that post, one IT guy is quoted saying:

“If something goes wrong with Microsoft, I can phone Microsoft up and have it fixed. With Open Source, I have to rely on the community.”

What’s your first thought after reading that?  Mine was “Have you ever even called Microsoft support?“.  It seems that a lot of people believe in this notion of Microsoft support magically fixing whatever problem they might have with any of the Microsoft product.

The question really is – will they?  Myself I never had any experience with Microsoft support, but I know quite a few people who did.  Most of them seem to agree that Microsoft support is pretty much like any other technical support service of any other company.  Meaning that to get anything good out of it, you have to know how to get through to knowledgeable people and you have to know how to convince them to spend some time with your case.  Otherwise, you’ll get into an endless loop of answering machines, checklist questions, and advices like “Please, reboot your computer and call us back“.

I have to say that that makes sense to me.  Microsoft is the biggest desktop software vendor.  Desktop computer users tend to be the most uninformed and untrained category of users (no offense intended).  If even half of them believe in magic of Microsoft support, imagine what Microsoft has to go through to keep their support costs reasonable.  If you have a serious problem, you’d probably need to get through all that protection and prove that you know what you are doing and that your case deserves attention.  Getting through requires knowledge, experience and patience.  How many people of those who believe in Microsoft support actually have the knowledge, experience and patience to get through?  I don’t think many do.  Am I wrong?
P.S.: By the way, there is an interesting discussion in the comments to that original post.