More random musing today. This could be a worrying trend or just a winter blip.
I was setting up a new laptop today. Sorry it’s a boring DELL running Windows 7. Main reason I stayed with Windows is the need to stay tethered to MS Office in a native environment. I also have an iPhone 4 and also recently added a Chrome Book for use in the kitchen. What was interesting is the small list of software I have installed so far (and in this order):
- Google Chrome
- DropBox
- MS Office
- Apple iTunes
- Trend Micro (free 30 day trial) – virus/spyware protection (we hope)
- Skype
That’s it. Really is that all I need? What else do I plan to install? Not much. Maybe Firefox and SnagIt. I will be adding a plug-in to MS Excel called NodeXL.
This made me start thinking. What other “software” programmes do I use and what else might I install? Here’s all came up with:
Use often (pre installed):
- Notepad
- Windows photo viewer & editor
- Calculator
It seems everything else I use these days is either (A) a website or (B) an app that runs inside a browser using the Cloud – or on my iPhone. Sure, other people will use special software. And design people and Apple users have a few others. This will be graphics, video and game programmes for the most part, I would guess. But the variety of software we need is actually pretty limited these days in 2012. What is the implication for the major PC software makers vs. app producers? What does this mean for the global economy? More questions than answers come to mind.
This is little bit of self-analysis is interesting. I want to track what I use and how often. There must be an app for that?
It also reminded me of a great presentation I caught at Le Web 2011 given by Forrester’s CEO George Colony titled “Three Social Thunderstorms” (sorry not George Clooney the actor). I didn’t agree with the entire presentation and all the predictions, but the point was to give the industry something to debate and a different view to consider.
The video is 22 minutes long, but worth watching – I have embedded below.
I am putting the App+Internet Ecosystem down as one of themes to watch in 2012. The overall 3 “social storms” is also worth keeping an eye on. In my opinion, I don’t see social saturation happening in 2012. Instead I see the connected consumer or user segment causing disruption along with a new wave of social apps, maybe we should call this social 3.0. Here how I would define the 3 versions or phases of Internet social paradigms:
- Social 1.0 = email and blogs (the web was ruled by search)
- Social 2.0 = dead social networks, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube
- Social 3.0 = SoLoMo apps (many will run on top of Facebook, Twitter etc and leverage the Social zero-dot-O device called a telephone, now usually called a mobile or cell
My prediction for 2012 – this is the year of social apps that are local and mobile. I say this is going to be a good year for Foursquare despite what Mr Colony has to say.
