[development] google just pwned the brochureware site industry

[Laura Scott]

Benson Wong wrote:
> On 2/23/06, Laura Scott <laura at pingv.com> wrote:
>   
>>  This comes down to the question of whether the disruptive technologies and
>> economies of this new era can truly compete with the centralized megacorp
>> models.
>>     
>
> What do you mean by this?
> Is Drupal considered a distruptive technology?
> What makes it disruptive? (I've been living under a rock for a while...)
>   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disruptive_technology -- And I think the 
concept bleeds into disruptive economies, as well. I suppose that's what 
Seth Godin et al. have been blogging about all these years now. Also the 
Cluetrain.
>
>> the opposite end of the paradigm, and appeals to different people who think
>> differently than those who want the corporate-sponsored service.
>>
>>
>>  Who uses AOL and who puts their internet services together themselves?
>>  Who blogs on Blogger and who downloads Wordpress or MT (or Drupal!) and
>> does it themselves?
>>
>>
>>  What Google does certainly is worth noticing, given how huge they are. But
>> I truly wonder at how a megacorp can compete in a marketplace that's all
>> about personal empowerment, which is where we, in all our Drupal-related
>> niches, live.
>>     
>
> I think you need to make a distinction between what kind of personal
> empowerment you're talking about.
>
> Drupal does not empower the majority of the public, it's too hard to
> use. It empowers programmers and systems integrators.
>   
I'm not talking about the majority of the public -- I'm talking about 
the long tail, again. Anything owned and branded by Google is not going 
to be empowering, in the end -- not if there are licensing ownership 
issues involved.
> Blogger, Pages, Typepad, that empowers the general public. People who
> are very intelligent and skilled in something other than web
> application installation. There are way more of these people than PHP
> programmers and sysadmins.
>   
These systems empower people, yes, but only as long as it's convenient 
and/or profitable for the megacorps.
> Competing with Blogger and Typepad isn't really what Drupal is about.
> Leave that to companies like Bryght.
>   
I believe we are in agreement here.
> Drupal development should be focused on solutions, on buildling the #1
> OS CMS. I honestly think we're almost there. Add in i18n support, make
> it easier to use, and we got a world class product.
>   
I feel that Drupal "should" become what the community makes of it. It's 
that organic quality that gives it much relevance and appeal.

Laura


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