Software Business Models
Recently I've been thinking a lot about the future of the internet. I've have little over 1 years experience of actual web development, but because of that I think that I have a unique perspective on the whole situation.
In my year of introduction to the web I faced a lot of criticsm, especially since I'm a math student at UW, and there happens to be this thing called pride which distinguishes us from the Computer Scientists that share our, rather large, building. "Why waiste time with web pages?" they ask. Why not use your knowledge of programming to make an application?
After two CS courses 133, and 134 in which I learned an immense amount, they failed to teach us how to create an executible. I couldn't make a program that would run without a compiler. So I turned to the web.
Suddenly, I didnt need a compiler. Suddenly, I could publish my work. I liked this.
Today, while I was installing a Firefox extension, I came across an interesting blog post titled: "More Money in Software or Sites?". This really got me thinking, and gave some encouragement. Its not like I'm trying to develope any sort of revenue generating business on the web, yet, but I think its great how its more than possible to do so. So perhaps this had an effect on me. Today I went and dropped Economics 220 (the "Economics of Entreprenuership") for CS 251.