Monday, February 27, 2006

Remember Halfbrain?

I muse about a new breed of Web application.

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You probably don’t. Halfbrain was a <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,13848,00.asp">full-featured</a> web-based replacement for Microsoft Excel, that in 1999, did wonders with Javascript and DHTML to create simply awe-inspiring spreadhseet functionality online. They followed with a Powerpoint replacement, and then a word process application. Then, as quickly as it appeared, Halfbrain vanished. Well, not quite. It was acquired by IBM by way of <a href="http://www.alphablox.com">Alphablox</a>, and put to rest. Now, in 2006, I’m reminded of the urgent new application annoucements and venture funding that were synonymous with the late nineties. Suddenly, a new breed of Web developer is loose again, innovating, getting funding, and creating interesting names for his application or service. <a href="http://www.thumbstacks.com">Thumbstacks</a> is a new application in beta that simulates on the Web, with great success, Microsoft Powerpoint. Several years ago, <a href="http://philip.greenspun.com">Philip Greenspun</a> and I designed and created a small application called <a href="http://philip.greenspun.com/help/for-one-page.tcl?url=/wp/index.tcl">WimpyPoint</a> (scroll down to the credits for a cheesey hand-raise,) which was meant to launch a database-backed version of PowerPoint. What Thumbstacks has done is to take the best of new presentation technology and create a version of our program on speed. Of course, you can’t do transisitons and things of that nature, but it’s still in Beta, and it’s a damned fine start! Similarly, <a href="http://www.irows.com/xo/Welcome.do">iRows</a> offers what HalfBrain used to, for spreadhseets. The advent of these new applications signals a new era of optimism in the Web innovation market. But unlike last time, when the world collectively took a hit from a dot-com bong and went ape-crazy with its time and money, let’s hope that we can be more responsible with our efforts and strategy. http://www.brutalclarity.com/index.php/77/
 

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