When I was younger, I would sometimes wonder how it was that some older people would seem to get ‘stuck’ on certain points of time. Relatives who would continue to dress as if it were still 30 years ago. Teachers whose music collection consisted of the same groups they had been listening to since high school. I just didn’t get it. Why didn’t they want to change with the times, try news things, and stay with the flow? Wasn’t the new stuff better?
I might understand it a bit more now, because I just don’t get one of the new Web 2.0 technology trends these days: browser-based software. What exactly makes it so much better than the current solutions?
For example, take Meebo. If you haven’t heard of them, Meebo is a company that has created a website which allows you to log into various IM clients - AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc - all on the same web page. More recently, they’ve added a “Meebo Me” web widget that you can put onto any website, and then have live real-time chats with anyone who visits that web page, no additional software required.
At any rate, I just don’t get what is so hot about this. I can see where if you’re traveling or on a public computer it might occasionally be useful to be able to log into an IM client via a web page, but I do not see how having to keep a web page open all day to use an application is so vastly superior to having a chat client installed on your hard drive. And I definitely don’t see the long-term business model, unless their plan is to have their technology acquired by someone like MySpace and cash out fast.
I can, however, see that if there were a way to connect Meebo into Trillian, or Adium, or even some kind of standalone desktop app or widget, then I’d be really loving MeeboMe. And so would many companies. Being able to do real-time chat on your webpage, without forcing your visitor to have to log into anything or install extra software, is a big plus. If Meebo launches something like this, I’ll be a big fan.
But for now, I feel like I am missing something here. Am I getting old and being left behind? Do I just not “get” the Web 2.0 models? Is it just that Meebo’s still in alpha and hasn’t launched its full set of features yet? Or is this a case of the Emperor’s New Clothes?
