They’re a platform, we’re a platform, wouldn’t you like to be a platform too?
Monday, December 11th, 2006It appears that being a platform is the new goal of Web 2.0. So now everyone will rush to proclaim themselves a platform, until the word has no meaning. Actually we’ve always thought Grazr was a platform, but we didn’t know that was a desirable buzzword, so we’ve been calling it an application development system for feeds. I’ll have to rewrite my Powerpoint slides. Being a dinosaur, I thought platform already had a specific meaning. It’s supposed to be a collection of software tools that allows others to build applications. That makes Windows and LAMP platforms, but is MySpace a platform as Scott claims? I guess it is if you broaden the definition to mean any site that allows others to add functionality. The problem with this step is that with the use of widgets any site can then be a platform. So we’re all platforms. In that case, does the word have any meaning?