The Next Big Thing
Welcome
Does it seem like the times are changing? I know what you're going to say, "The times are always changing in high tech," which is certainly true. But sometimes they are changing in ways you don't think they should be changing.
Dear Reader,
Does it seem like the times are changing? I know what you're going to say, "The times are always changing in high tech," which is certainly true. But sometimes they are changing in ways you don't think they should be changing. Of course, there is nothing like an economic downturn to bring on a mass extinction of shaky business ideas. But that's the kind of thing that goes on all the time. Scanning the news, I get the impression we might be getting to one of those points where some of the stuff that we thought was going to work seems to be landing far afield.
First of all, there is the mess over at Twitter. When Elon Musk first signaled his interest in buying the micro-messaging giant, there was a lot of discussion about moderation policies – in fact, I even wrote about that in this space six months ago – but I don't think anyone had any idea about the financial and personnel train wreck that would follow. Everyone just assumed this billionaire would sweep in and buy a company (like billionaires do all the time), shake things up, and adroitly tailor the product to his business needs. Instead, the thing started crumbling almost as soon as he grabbed hold of it. A company like Twitter has so many moving parts, and its profit model is so ephemeral that you can't just fold it up and fold it in like you would a trucking company or a beer distributorship. Companies like Twitter are delicate, and perhaps Musk should have proceeded more carefully before starting in with the ol' venture capital slash and burn playbook.
[...]
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