Sunday, July 25, 2010

Ruby are you contemplating?

A typical Sunday afternoon, sitting next to the window listening to the world go by below. It must be symptomatic of a recession that all you can think of is whether traders are charging VAT after you have been to a farmers market and whether all forms of local entrepreneurship are supporting the economy as a whole (especially within the vital cottage industry sector). Of course the revenue may have had officials investigating but I doubt they would have their house that much in order.

All these thoughts of business were brought about after finishing reading my weekends fill of the The Sunday Times. I know its old hat but who on earth thought it was a good idea to charge for online content, it appears that someone really has to sit the Australian down and explain to him the concept of the internet. From what I can see very few people are going to splash out the extra cash just to see David Coulthard drive a very quick car admittedly very quickly around an island where there are no speed limits.Then again maybe I could be wrong and this all very clever with thoughts being to reader demographic, disposable income and possibly some sort offer reminiscent to the chapter in Predictably Irrational.

I always thought any internet site was going to be driven by an advertising lead business model while punters will only pay for specific content, usually in the form of a Forrester Report or The Wall Street Journal. I find it hard to believe that any of the insights provided by the Sunday Times demand an RSS feed into an Executive Information System. Anyway doesn't everyone buy the paper for the magazine type inserts, the presentation cultural material in a fashion that can never be fully captured in a Web 2.0 environment. Although no doubt iPad lovers out there will claim that the device provides an unparalleled user experience and my views are dated and out of sync with the obvious progress being made.

That is enough out loud wondering for one day. In honour of Sunday radio where you are forcibly transported back in the region of three to four decades ala Marty McFly here is the beard himself Kenny Roger and Ruby leave the .22 at home.