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January 19, 2005
Situated software is only half the story
I've been following the various discussions surrounding the Long Tail meme that Chris Anderson started. Now, Scott McMullan (the new director of developer relations at JotSpot) combines the Long Tail with Situated Software in an article summarizing various examples from that space. Now what I would be really interested in discussing is how the situated software concept can be applied to enterprise solutions and how a wide adoption of situated software would affect traditional software-companies that today provide custom built solutions and services.
I can envision a world (driven by Doc Searl's notion of the demand side supplying itself) where in fact corporations no longer require the services of traditional software-shops but instead reach out to a mesh of micro ISVs, micro consultancies, Open Source brokers and maybe outsourced groups of programmers. By combining the strength of each node in the mesh with the concept of a software solution that is just "good enough" - and not more - corporations will be able to react to changing customer needs or demands far quicker than they can today.
But that is only half the story - not only will the software be situated - but also the supply side itself will be! It will be combined to be just "good enough" to supply the software the demand side needs. If this is the case - and you happen to be one of those software companies - then you should be making every effort to make sure you're ready.
Posted by Matthew at January 19, 2005 08:22 PM