The article “Why Software is Eating the World” by Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen in the Wall Street Journal on August 2, 2011 regarding the current and future status of the technology world. His underlying premise was that “software is eating the world” and reviews the many ways businesses in diverse industries are being transformed by this phenomena with new winners beating out older, slower movers every day. Think of what Amazon.com has done to Borders…Netflix to Blockbuster…Skype to the Ma Bells and their survivors…and most recently, LinkedIn to the conventional recruiting industry.
Highlights:
Traditional Brick and Mortar business model is replace by software based businesses.
Around 2 billion people have access to internet and in the next decade it is expected to grow up to 5 billion.
Top of the list for Fortune 500 companies are dominated by software companies.
Our everyday life has become dependent on software heavily.
Internet & Software Technology is yet to mature but has already transformed the business landscape for almost every sector.
Pros:
Software has enabled to do tasks accurately and fast that human cannot perform in the same rate.
Access to various services around the clock.
World has become smaller and accessible due to internet based software.
New business model and paradigm shift in ways of doing business by leveraging software capability.
Cons:
Single point of failure due to dependency on the technology
People are more vulnerable in the privacy and security due to technology dependency
Less time to catch with technology changes created unemployment in many countries.
Comments:
I agree with the authors view with respect to software industry and how it is changing the world. There is not a single industry that is not affected by software either positively or negatively. Our modern day life is completely dependent on software’s.