There are some interesting questions posed here Adrian. With regard to the main thrust – are applications and content blurring – I would have to say the changing nature of content delivery is definitely causing haziness. For me this is driven by a few trends:

• The increasing ‘power of the platform’ and nascent Platform as a Service industry.
• The increasing prevalence of ‘meta-content’ i.e. content that consumes aggregates and extends other content.
• The projected decline in dominance of traditional enterprise and productivity applications.

The core point here is that the application delivery platforms appear to becoming increasingly rich as they become increasingly service focused. Providing an individual or enterprise with the power to develop RIA easily also ties them to the delivery platform more tightly. Certainly there are touch points with standards (web services etc), but an increasing amount of platform IP is becoming part of the content itself.

Application and content providers might not be as concerned with the age old .Net vs. Java style of debate – but how easily can an application and its delivered content be ported between Force.com and something like OpSource? If the answer even suggests it is more difficult then I think the boundaries are blurring.

I think this question will be debated long and hard in the industry as we once again start on a proprietary to standards transition, this time in the RIA platform market.

Regards
Simon W

p.s. For what it’s worth I think Citrix are making a noise to raise awareness of a subtle strategy change for them. If they are making inroads beyond the front door of the data-centre then they will have to build a reputation with a different set of providers and consumers to their traditional offerings.

Updated by Simon W on May 27, 2008 6:36 PM

Thanks for your comments Simon,

I guess I was thinking about this from a purist’s perspective when I questioned it. Tell your average binary-focused Pepsi-chugging code junkie that code isn’t code anymore and that code is, well, content – and you might get a touch of antagonism.

However, I think your wider “empirical” (if I may) experience as an IT consultant speaks volumes here. In terms of what’s really happening once the code is out there --- and is being channelled by service-driven structures (which you are clearly a fan of), then yes – things get blurry.

In particular, you mentioned meta-content (content that consumes aggregates and extends other content) – and wow, the number of sites (that shall remain nameless) that take pieces like this one from ZDNet.co.uk and then “aggregate” it and run it as a headline. No bad thing I guess, but it makes me stop and think every time I see it.

I like the fact that you mention the, “projected decline in dominance of traditional enterprise and productivity applications.” Try running that one past your average IT vendor behemoth! Once again, points to be debated long and hard.

Have we helped propagate the subtle strategy change that Citrix wanted in the first place now I wonder?

Either way – I’m usually quite blurry.

Adrian

Updated by Adrian Bridgwater on May 29, 2008 9:23 AM

Well I've been holding on to this one for a while but I guess now's as good a time as any to let it go. Just remember that you heard it here first on ZDNet:


THE MASS IS THE MEDIA!


thinkfeeldo

Posted by thinkfeeldo on May 28, 2008 2:09 AM

Thanks for your note thinkfeeldo,

Do you feel much mass media madness or maybe more meditative media melancholy?

Adrian - aka - pondertouchaction

Posted by Adrian Bridgwater on May 28, 2008 2:21 AM

Adrian,

Speaking of blur, this little piece of copy from the Citrix website is a beauty:

'....will help manage, monitor, measure and control all dimensions of application access to make more informed business decisions on application consolidation and retirement, capacity planning, service level agreements, and departmental charge-backs across Citrix’s application delivery solutions.'

I can understand the pizza chomping, cola gulping, bearded and bleary-eyed cave coders knowing what it means but for most of the rest of the world, who couldn’t give a rats, it's absolute drivel.

For the record, my chief focus is on the final connection with the operator's brain! So Citrix can have the 1st and last mile for all I care.

Even so, how many people do you know who really want to understand the inner workings of their computer/ television/ mobile phone? How many people have you met that question the ubiquitous credit card or bar coding system or even the good old fashioned fixed-line telephone?

People just want their stuff to work.

The billions and billions and billions being spent globally to make it all faster, better and more efficient will see that the blurring of all applications, systems, methodologies, delivery models, content types and devices continues until we’ve built and delivered the ultimate super system. And believe me, there’s only one area of the whole twisted contraption that the billions and billions of users will ultimately care about……and that’s where yours truly is headed.


TFD

Updated by thinkfeeldo on May 28, 2008 9:21 AM

Nice one TFD – you certainly went for the jugular there,

Hey, I ‘really’ wanted to try and be nice to Citrix as I had an OK event with them a couple of years back at their user conference in Scotland (note to PR agency – make sure I get the US invite next time please) despite the fact that the Edinburgh International Conference centre catering staff think that VEGETABLE OIL & RAW GARLIC constitutes salad dressing…

Adrian to waiter: “What’s this?”

Waiter with rough Scottish brogue: “Eh, um, vin-e-gar-ette, I think – well, cooking oil and garlic anyway – ya put it on yer lettuce.”

No – really. Makes deep fried Mars bars look like Special-K!

Anyway, CEO Mark Templeton actually spent some time in the pressroom hanging around leaving himself open to casual questions and I was like, well, impressed to be honest. It may have been naïve of me because I mentioned it to some of more heavily bearded counterparts when I got home and I got comments like, “Ah, typical Templeton tactics.”

Yes, these guys have a bad case of vendor-adjective-overuse for sure. I think there’s a big problem with so much of this stuff existing on the web sites and white papers of industry analysts, but comparatively little of it happening in the real world.

I’m sure application consolidation goes on. But it’s not at the vanguard of 21st Century programming. Or if it is why are only application delivery specialists talking about it?

The very fact that you refer to the ‘user’ as an ‘operator’ is probably the key. That’s what programmers do. Usually disparagingly of course as part of their favourite term: operator error.

But be careful, some people do want to scratch beneath the surface and find out how internal workings are structured. Quite how deep they want to go is another matter.

Obviously we’re a good way off creating the super system as yet – but I think your aired frustrations are shared my many of us. Well, myself for one.

Yours, still fairly blurry - Adrian

Posted by Adrian Bridgwater on May 28, 2008 2:19 PM

This comment has been deleted at the users request

Updated by Adrian Bridgwater on May 28, 2008 2:21 PM

This comment has been deleted at the users request

Updated by Adrian Bridgwater on May 28, 2008 2:21 PM

I rest my case!



TFD

Posted by thinkfeeldo on Jun 2, 2008 3:08 AM