C4: Application Acquisition
February 16th, 2008Wolf has been releasing videos from last year’s C4 Conference, at which I was a speaker. I have been sort of looking forward to and fearing the release of my speech, Application Acquisition, which just went live.
Seeing yourself on video is like the exaggerated version of hearing your own voice on tape. I really sound like that? I really look like that? It’s weird.
But I am pleasantly surprised that the presentation overall does not seem as rambling or overloaded with information as I remembered. I definitely learned some speaking lessons in the process, and I appreciate Wolf giving me the chance to share my thoughts.
If you’re thinking about acquiring software, or you’re just curious about my take on the whole thing, you could find worse ways to spend an hour than watching this video!
February 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Great presentation Daniel. :)
February 16th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Nice presentation!
February 17th, 2008 at 12:24 am
Yecccch! Is that what you look like?! Oh, wait, that’s my reflection in the glossy screen…
Yeccch! Is that what I look like?!
Good to see the videos being posted. Nice for those of us who were too poor to attend C[1] last year.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Regarding the first point of the presentation “What is acquisition”, I think your comparisons are somehow incorrect.
When you acquire an application, you purchase a “recipe”. You do not purchase the product the recipe lets you build.
When you buy a coffee at Starbucks, you do not get the rights for the recipe of the coffee. You just get a coffee.
Regarding the furniture maker, nails and woods are not recipes either. They are just materials (the frameworks).
Acquiring an application can also be viewed as acquiring a shop. You want to keep the previous customers, keep on selling basically the same kind of products but maybe you think you can change the way the products are displayed, the price of the products, removed some products or go with another brand, etc.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Stephane: I think when trying to make real-life metaphors for virtual properties, there’s always some area where the comparison falls apart. But I still think there is value in considering code materials to be the raw elements out of which products are built, and in this sense I still very much like the comparisons to wood and nails.
The coffee comparison was mostly intended to open developers’ minds to the idea the acquisition is common and everyday. I used the cup-of-coffee because it’s something many people can relate to being capable of building/achieving on their own, and yet they’re perfectly content to outsource production on a daily basis.