browser

A Not-So-Brief History of Third Party PC Software 1, 2 Before PCs came into existence (Pre-PC era?), computers were primarily used by enterprises for business needs. By nature, software for those computers was specific to each enterprise and would have been 3 written separately. There would have been more or less no “app development business” possibility. Once the PCs 4 came into being, computers became a ‘personal’ (or at least a family / household) thing and thus B2C & B2P (business-to-professionals, like photographers) possibilities for software would have begun. With standards like “IBM-PC running MS-DOS”, “Apple’s computers running Apple’s OS” and various such combinations, it would have been possible to create “write-once, run-in-many-similar-computers-&-peripherals” kind of software. The next stage would have been the need to eliminate the dependency on device-drivers of peripheral makers, which I guess MS did with aplomb. And then with Windows 3.1 taking dominance, Win-Tel alliance and with Windows 95 achieving world domination, desktop software business should have reached its peak maturity. Several software makers would have flourished in this period (like say Intuit). But not several did, for two reasons: (1) MS tried to kill them (by purchasing them out or by offering a free/cheaper variant of the software, sometimes bundled with Windows) AND (2) there was no sophisticated retailing channel. Retailing was only through special retail outlets or mail-in orders etc, delivered through disk drives. At this stage, the following kind of companies would have existed: Software Product Companies (example: Intuit), Companies that made other products but software was a part of the overall solution (e.g., Sony-Video Camcorder maker with software to edit videos), Software development service companies (example: ABC Tech 5 , developing some portion of Quicken for Intuit OR developing the video editing software for Sony) etc 6 . Retailing the software (for software product companies) at this stage would have been by means of disk drives sold through physical retail stores or through direct mail-in orders. The pain in all these would have meant that there was no gold rush in software development. Next stage of software development on the PC was on the ‘Web’, with the advent of Internet. A browser was available in all OS/hardware 7 and more importantly, businesses and consumers could communicate & transact easily without being physically present or wait for the post man. At this stage, the following kind of companies would have existed: Pure Web companies, solving problems users face in the web (like Yahoo solving the issue of classifying websites through their directory service), Offline businesses establishing their web presence (like Sony), New online businesses with no/minimal physical presence (like Amazon), Media Companies establishing web presence (like New York Times) – these are indeed a part of offline business turning to the web but are significant to be mentioned separately, Web Development service companies that create/maintain websites for others (like ABC Tech, who can provide service to Sony, Amazon, Yahoo, NYT or anyone) and Companies that made “tools” for DIY web development (Cannot remember an example, Geocities would fit?). There was nothing like ‘retailing’ for this software – The product (website) reached right into the users’ browser. The massive spread of Internet ensured that the market for these kept on expanding. However, making people realize you existed was an issue: Enter search engines! The ease of development & large growth of the market meant that there was indeed a gold rush that ended with the dot com bust. Note that at this stage, companies from the previous era also thrived; Web could not do everything a native app on PC could. After a brief period of confusion, the Web regained prominence (Web 2.0, 3.0, whatever!). Web became more powerful and several things could get achieved within the browser. More importantly, Web became so elaborate that several niches started appearing. World Domination was only for a few – they became ‘products’ + ‘platforms’, like Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. The same set of companies from the previous stage existed here too – with “platforms” being a significant addition. The availability of platforms meant that web development became even easier. The concept of ‘cloud’ & ‘on-demand computing’ saw its day and ensured that software product development over the web became less expensive too! This is why concepts like the Cloud-Top (Chromebook) have become reality! Slowly but surely, B2C software product offerings have all moved to the browser – can you think of any new B2C software product that gets ‘installed’ & runs completely on the PC? Things like Photoshop do exist but they are rare! Other exceptions could be the ones like the software that accompanies your phone/gadget (iTunes kind) but it is a matter of time before all of them move to the cloud. Native PC Apps are trying their luck through the “App Stores” that are getting established (like Intel, Apple etc) but then, native apps are really past their prime – Angry Birds is available on a browser starting today, not as a Win-32 app, see! J .