It’s not an ‘Operating System’…

December 27, 2006

I’m was glad to see simplerich’s post on Terminology Confusion. I couldn’t agree more with this ‘WebOS’ designation, it’s not an ‘operating system’. Any ideas on what should we call them?

Posted by Saas-a-fras-er Filed in Goowy

One Response to “It’s not an ‘Operating System’…”

  1. Rich G. Says:
    December 28, 2006 at 12:28 am

    I’m not sure they’re mature enough, or standardized enough to deserve a name yet. I know that sounds arrogant but is there a need for an online office suite that doesn’t seem to be cross platform in that it will work with other online office suite type sites? Some have an IM module, some don’t. Some have e-mail, others don’t, some will slurp POP mail, others won’t.

    I think right now they’re too new to get a name, too unstandardized, and too not on their feet yet.
    They have all the symptoms of a product desperately hoping to create a need for themselves.

    The responsibility for them to know who and what they are lies with them first, and then they should explain it to us to try and woo us as customers. If they can’t identify themselves why should we do it for them? The Ajax-buzz factor has helped create sensations, but should it help define them as well?

    A successful company knows what it wasnts to be and works to be that. If they haven’t got a clue what to call themselves yet and aren’t sharing that name with people, there are going to be troubles later… for them.

    Google knew it was and wanted to be a search engine. Amazon knew it was and wanted to be a book-seller. Ebay knew it was and wanted to be an auction site. Netvibes knew what it was and wanted to be, and it is. Those sites had a clearly defined vision and name for themselves. It shows in their success. You don’t start out as a brand name only. You start out as a cotton swab, and do it so well that later all cotton swabs are called Q-tips. They need to know what they are themselves first, and I don’t believe they do.

    I think they’re riding the widget train and hoping everybody buys a ticket without asking where it’s going.

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