I was so thrilled to read our buddy Richard MacManus come through with an honest look at the “web 2.0” world:
I also don’t see many start-ups attempting disruptive things in the non-geek space. I see plenty of events web apps, tons of RSS Aggregators, lots of AJAX-powered office apps. But what about Web 2.0 applications that will tackle things like health, finance, education, government?
Richard is talking about disruptive startups — companies who actually break the mold and innovate rather than emulate, mashup, and wait for the quick flip. The problem I see is that every new “web 2.0” company targets the same audience: 20-somethings who socially bookmark their life, use RSS to track weblogs, and seemingly can’t find any restaurants without needing someone else’s opinion. Is this the best our industry can do?
Two years ago I worked at Northrop Grumman designing missile defense software, and let me just say, it could be a HELL of a lot better. I think we should take the best designer and the best programmer from all the new “web 2.0” startups, put them all in a new company, and have them design military software. Or content management software. Screw social networking (I like actually meeting my friends), let’s make real applications better.
Colin’s take. What’s your take?