Forum Posts Feed
The dissimination of outliners, was Re: NoteMap -- Greg,
< Next Message | Back to archived message list | Previous Message >
Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.
Outliners.com Message ID: 4232
Posted by pma
2005-09-29 06:54:28
We shouldn’t forget that the whole use of outliners, as well as other computerbased tools for writing, is not a matter of selling products, like chocolate bars or even computers. It’s a matter of a paradigm shift, a new way of working with text, which greatly enhances the capability of the individual to do knowledge work. However, it takes effort to change work habits. People learn to write already in school, without using computers, or using computers as typewriters (eg. linear typing tools). Even at universities, professional researchers still work with text like they did 20 years ago.
So “educating the masses” to understand the virtues of these tools, will probably be a long processes. An - hate to say it - I’m afraid the breakthrough will only come, when Microsoft integrates these tools in their suite. And they will only do that when the small players have used resources on the innovative development of the tools. Then they’ll buy the products and integrate them, or sell them as standalone products. Maybe onenote will develop into such a text development tool.
I absolutely understand Greg. On the other hand - the founder of Skype , Janus Fries, just became the second richest man of Denmark by the sale of Skype to eBay. Two years ago, nobody would have believed that Skype would survived. So if ONE of the producers of these tools, that could be the company behind NoteMap, Zoot, BrainStorm, or on of the others, went for it, and developed the definitive tool, it could have a dramatic potential. Huge investments and great commitment would however be necessary initially. And there should be a clear business strategy, which incorporated the educative perspective in the marketing of the products.
Just my 5c,
Peter.