The latest rage on the ‘net is the Facebook application – essentially a bit of software which uses Facebook (the social networking site) as it’s sole medium. One cannot simply go to myapplicaitonname.com – no, you can only access it if and only if you have a profile on Facebook and login to the Facebook.com site.

Jason Calacanis explained Facebook’s motives for offering an platform that anyone can access

1. get free developer labor
2. generates tools for their platform and users
3. get free research into which features their users wants

(http://www.calacanis.com/2007/10/09/should-you-trust-facebook-with-your-business/)

Naturally, this has attracted hordes of developers who will generate apps because it’s relatively easy to do and it’s a way to gain “fame” among peers (“hey look, my app has 10,000 users!) Indeed, many of the apps that exist on Facebook have very limited potential for making money and exist as labours of love.

Now, a very select group of developers is basing their entire business (and financial future) off of a Facebook app. While I use Facebook regularly and use it for it’s core features (ie, social networking) it’s not the holy grail of the world. The barrier to entry and exit is pretty low, for all we know, Facebook could lose as many users a day as it is gaining right now. For a while, MySpace was the giant that couldn’t be beat, now look at where it’s standing in comparison to Facebook. Another day, another site could come along (offer an easy “import from Facebookâ€? feature) and dominate market share. Your application wouldn’t work with this new platform and bam, your revenue stream drops dead.

Not only does the “Facebook app” developer face two issues namely being having their fate determined by a third party which may or may not have any loyalty to you, the lowly app developer. One also has the issue of there being too many Facebook applications which can ruin someone’s Facebook experience.

Facebook gained a loyal following for being a lot “cleaner” and “more private” than it’s biggest competition MySpace. With too many apps, Facebook is starting to lose its edge on the “clean and simple” department. It’s not that you have apps on your profile, it’s everyone else. If I want to leave a message on someone’s wall, I really don’t want to scroll through 50 application sections to do so. Chances are I will get fed up with all the clutter and app invites and go somewhere else. Too many Facebook apps diminish the value of Facebook

Facebook should be commended for opening their platform – there are many good applications out there. On a business level however, I wouldn’t dream about basing my entire income on a third party that I don’t control. Facebook apps are great for simple “funâ€? gadgets and promotions (a great extension for a lot of web apps) but is a pretty big risk for someone’s bread and butter.

Facebook is a high risk stock. It’s fine to play around a bit with some high risk “money� – just don’t bet your entire life on it. While you’re thinking about it, stop sending me 5 million Facebook app invites. I really don’t want a cluttered up profile.

Celebration of Light – Canada (123)

Originally uploaded by andrew.wallwork

Much better wind conditions helped Canada out a lot. Compared with Spain, it was a totally different show, they used different heights a lot more and it was quite pretty.

As a side note, my apologies for the low resolution of these photos, I didn’t realize my camera was set to low resolution (I accidentally changed it in the dark)

Spain 2007 (111)

Originally uploaded by andrew.wallwork

The music choice was totally unexpected (did anyone expect Star Wars) but it worked, and it worked well.

Every time I go online these days I see websites being called “long tailed” AJAX web 2.0 applications. While next to anyone can call a site “web 2.0″ – what are the real benefits of web applications over a desktop application. In most cases, although a single user application may be called “web 2.0″ – the real power lies in the ability for multi user and collaborative access.

Regardless of advances in networking technologies we will never make it faster to edit text in a web browser than it will be to send it over the “tubes of the internets” to a web server somewhere. While one can edit text offline and then send it all in one batch, very much like what I am doing right now when writing this essay in WordPress you will not be able to benefit from instant saves, backup recovery etc that desktop applications can offer.

So, where is the power in Web applications? The biggest advantage out there is the fact that they can be accessed from anywhere. Imagine if you had to go to your bank every time you wanted to make an online banking transaction to use their customized desktop software, it would ruin the whole advantage of online banking. Via the web it makes it simple to access the system from pretty much everywhere with software that is installed on practically every consumer computer on the face of this planet.

Apart from access from anywhere there is one major advantage. Multi user access. Wikipedia for example would not operate if everyone was restricted to one physical location or having to download specialized software to edit a page. Wikipedia works because all one has to do is click a button on a web page and edit a text field. On a business application, SugarCRM and Salesforce work because they allow people to work from anywhere and share the work they are working on with other members of their team.

Web 2.0 could be seen as a fancy marketing term for sites employing lots of AJAX which means no pages to refresh. I don’t believe so. Web 2.0 is an application that has to be accessed remotely via a web browser or it would be next to impossible for people to use. Web 2.0 is applications that require multi user access and can’t tie people to one physical location. Web apps won’t be replacing your desktop word processor anytime soon unless you need to collaboratively create those documents with other people but it will be the dominant force for groupware, CRM, and banking applications.

IMG_1883

Originally uploaded by andrew.wallwork

I finally found this picture among my digital archives, it was an interesting experience taking pictures of wild whales surfacing, the timing had to be just perfect and finally, I got a pretty good shot.

IMG_2556

Originally uploaded by andrew.wallwork

flickr won out over gallery2 mostly due to the group function. I’d like to be able to bring everyone’s photos together from camp at once place, hence flickr was chosen.

Hello World!

This is a slightly customized placeholder while I get things set up. In time, I plan for this to be a moderately active blog detailing my thoughts and ideas. So, give it some time and this blog will have some new content.