Archive
HTML5 is the future, but users don’t care
Don’t get me wrong, I strongly believe HTML5 is the best available technology for most web applications, and I personally love it. On the other hand, people who actually use applications just don’t care what technology they have been built with, as long as they are running smoothly.
The IT industry is moving away from Flash and that is a good thing. The consolidation of browsers support with HTML5 and the ability to take advantage of hardware features will make it simpler and faster for software developers to build exciting new applications that work on phones, tablets, personal computers, televisions and everything in between.
The current reality, however, is that we are still in the middle of that technological transition. Did you know that the HTML5 specifications are not even finalized yet? The W3C group – who creates web standards such as HTML – plans on moving from review to recommendation only at the end of 2014.
The Long Tail of Customized Photo Products
I was reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson when it dawned on me; the mass customization industry is the incarnation of the long tail principle. Absolute diversity, zero inventory cost, and the difficult issue for customers of finding what they need. The way those products are handled at the moment is similar to a standard catalog of shelf products. We categorize them, define sets of options for individual SKUs, use some cross-selling and up-selling techniques and have consumers go through a lengthy process of deciding exactly what they want. The problem is, they know about some features of their desired products, but not all of them. It’s easier for someone to say: “I want to buy a big, nice, leather book for my wedding party photos” than “Hey, let’s buy a blue faux-leather hard-cover book with a keyhole and stitched binding, silver halide printed high-end paper pages and a feather effect on my pictures!” Read more…
Christian Rondeau is CIO at Mediaclip Inc. in Montreal, Canada
Technology Management & Leadership 