Comments on: Parody, pastiche or The Real Thing™? http://bonhom.ie/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-real-thing Tue, 12 Oct 2010 23:37:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Paul Watson http://bonhom.ie/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-real-thing#comment-203 Paul Watson Thu, 11 May 2006 12:09:44 +0000 http://81.17.252.110/~dermod/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-the-real-thing%c2%99.html#comment-203 Excellent commentary.<br/><br/>The rest of us, whether we were duped or not, will simply continue working on our ideas. Excellent commentary.

The rest of us, whether we were duped or not, will simply continue working on our ideas.

]]> By: Des Traynor http://bonhom.ie/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-real-thing#comment-202 Des Traynor Sun, 07 May 2006 17:16:09 +0000 http://81.17.252.110/~dermod/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-the-real-thing%c2%99.html#comment-202 Its an interesting read, and a good post Dermod. Nakatomi is a parody. It's a parody of all the websites around the net that talk big and don't deliver. Soo many sites out there tell you they will change your world, once their product is complete. Until then you give them an email address and sit back. It was after browsing the umpteenth site that I said to Dave how it was pissing me off and we to create the "ultimate" web 2.0 product. No application, no possible uses, hundreds of promises and zero delivery. <br/><br/>Even now I could still give you a list of maybe 15 sites I know that have nothing to offer other than big promises and bigger text input boxes begging for your email address. That was the motivation, and that is what we were taking the piss out of, just to be clear. <br/><br/>Another interesting 2.0 trend is creating products that solve problems no one ever seemed to have. That is where Skypod was supposed to come in, admitedly I got carried away and made it sounds plausible, even useful. Skypod would be a great product if you didn't have to implement it. But there are many "mashup" products that really seem pointless, smashing Skype and iPods together really seemed appropriate. <br/><br/>To Fergus: <br/><br/>At Nakatomi we did indeed rip the piss out of the web2.0 buzzword and its associated hype. We weren't the only people do it, we weren't the first people to do it, and we certainly won't be the last either. We didn't name and shame any companies or ventures, we merely parodied the unjustified hype that follows the 2.0 label. <br/><br/>If you think I am too busy "taking the piss" out of web 2.0 activities and ventures, then why would I bother writing a detailed and glowing review of one of Irelands best "web 2.0" ventures pxn8[1]. Pxn8 is a superb piece of work, by a clearly talented programmer (walter) and deserves hype. Not because its AJAX, not because its 2.0, not even because it's Irish. It deserves it, because its a great product that solves a problem I see every day. If any of the Irish start-ups develop good software I will not hesitate to spread the word, nor have I yet. So if Nakatomi has offended you, then you are interpreting it incorrectly (unless you actually run a company that produces community based ajax powered distributed 2.0 aggregation software, in which case Nakatomi should be the least of your worries) We weren't taking the piss out of anything except for the hype.<br/><br/>As for Dermods "how will be distance ourselves from nakatomi", and fergus added threat "It's a small world", again I don't understand the motivation. If David or I ever develop a truly great piece of software while working for ourselves, I don't believe that Nakatomi will stand in its way. You can always tell the good software apart from the hyped up fluff because you use it and it works. I use pxn8 for that exact reason. I accept that I will never be able to generate that much hype again without backing it up with a good product.I am okay with that, I don't intend to develop another parody product any time soon. <br/><br/>Dermod: Thank you for your kind wishes, I will continue to read your blog and indeed your column. Apologies if you were duped, my consolation is that at least you know to be on the look out :)<br/><br/>Des Traynor<br/><br/>(btw: In Die Hard one, the terrorists blow the roof apart. Thats what the logo was supposed to be, not celery on fire, or a 9/11 logo)<br/><br/>** Links to support this Comment** <br/><br/>http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/10/21.html<br/>Joel Spolsky is an highly respected software developer whose weblog JoelOnSoftware. He refers to web 2.0 saying "It's not a real concept. It has no meaning. It's a big, vague, nebulous cloud of pure architectural nothingness."<br/><br/>http://www.fleck.com<br/>These guys came along after Nakatomi and are the dutch equivalent. <br/><br/>http://www.web20generator.com/<br/>You give these people a snappy web 2.0 style name, and they produce a web2.0 product page that looks pretty believable.<br/><br/>http://www.alistapart.com/articles/web3point0<br/>This is an article by Jeffrey Zeldman, probably the most well respected web developer going these days. He also dissects what exactly web 2.0 means and finds little inside. <br/><br/>http://www.minds.may.ie/~dez/serendipity/index.php?/archives/53-pxn8-The-Best-Online-Picture-Editing-Web-Application.html<br/>A link to a review of pxn8(a product by sxoop tecnologies) that I wrote in March. Its an interesting read, and a good post Dermod. Nakatomi is a parody. It’s a parody of all the websites around the net that talk big and don’t deliver. Soo many sites out there tell you they will change your world, once their product is complete. Until then you give them an email address and sit back. It was after browsing the umpteenth site that I said to Dave how it was pissing me off and we to create the “ultimate” web 2.0 product. No application, no possible uses, hundreds of promises and zero delivery.

Even now I could still give you a list of maybe 15 sites I know that have nothing to offer other than big promises and bigger text input boxes begging for your email address. That was the motivation, and that is what we were taking the piss out of, just to be clear.

Another interesting 2.0 trend is creating products that solve problems no one ever seemed to have. That is where Skypod was supposed to come in, admitedly I got carried away and made it sounds plausible, even useful. Skypod would be a great product if you didn’t have to implement it. But there are many “mashup” products that really seem pointless, smashing Skype and iPods together really seemed appropriate.

To Fergus:

At Nakatomi we did indeed rip the piss out of the web2.0 buzzword and its associated hype. We weren’t the only people do it, we weren’t the first people to do it, and we certainly won’t be the last either. We didn’t name and shame any companies or ventures, we merely parodied the unjustified hype that follows the 2.0 label.

If you think I am too busy “taking the piss” out of web 2.0 activities and ventures, then why would I bother writing a detailed and glowing review of one of Irelands best “web 2.0″ ventures pxn8[1]. Pxn8 is a superb piece of work, by a clearly talented programmer (walter) and deserves hype. Not because its AJAX, not because its 2.0, not even because it’s Irish. It deserves it, because its a great product that solves a problem I see every day. If any of the Irish start-ups develop good software I will not hesitate to spread the word, nor have I yet. So if Nakatomi has offended you, then you are interpreting it incorrectly (unless you actually run a company that produces community based ajax powered distributed 2.0 aggregation software, in which case Nakatomi should be the least of your worries) We weren’t taking the piss out of anything except for the hype.

As for Dermods “how will be distance ourselves from nakatomi”, and fergus added threat “It’s a small world”, again I don’t understand the motivation. If David or I ever develop a truly great piece of software while working for ourselves, I don’t believe that Nakatomi will stand in its way. You can always tell the good software apart from the hyped up fluff because you use it and it works. I use pxn8 for that exact reason. I accept that I will never be able to generate that much hype again without backing it up with a good product.I am okay with that, I don’t intend to develop another parody product any time soon.

Dermod: Thank you for your kind wishes, I will continue to read your blog and indeed your column. Apologies if you were duped, my consolation is that at least you know to be on the look out :)

Des Traynor

(btw: In Die Hard one, the terrorists blow the roof apart. Thats what the logo was supposed to be, not celery on fire, or a 9/11 logo)

** Links to support this Comment**

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2005/10/21.html
Joel Spolsky is an highly respected software developer whose weblog JoelOnSoftware. He refers to web 2.0 saying “It’s not a real concept. It has no meaning. It’s a big, vague, nebulous cloud of pure architectural nothingness.”

http://www.fleck.com
These guys came along after Nakatomi and are the dutch equivalent.

http://www.web20generator.com/
You give these people a snappy web 2.0 style name, and they produce a web2.0 product page that looks pretty believable.

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/web3point0
This is an article by Jeffrey Zeldman, probably the most well respected web developer going these days. He also dissects what exactly web 2.0 means and finds little inside.

http://www.minds.may.ie/~dez/serendipity/index.php?/archives/53-pxn8-The-Best-Online-Picture-Editing-Web-Application.html
A link to a review of pxn8(a product by sxoop tecnologies) that I wrote in March.

]]> By: Fergus Burns http://bonhom.ie/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-real-thing#comment-201 Fergus Burns Sun, 07 May 2006 13:36:34 +0000 http://81.17.252.110/~dermod/2006/05/parody-pastiche-or-the-real-thing%c2%99.html#comment-201 Hi Dermod<br/><br/>Some of us do our best to promote web2.0 activities and ventures, whilst others are too busy "taking the piss"<br/><br/>Your last few sentences hit the nail on the head and as we all know "its a very small world"<br/><br/>Btw, best of luck with your venture<br/><br/>Talk soon<br/>Fergus Hi Dermod

Some of us do our best to promote web2.0 activities and ventures, whilst others are too busy “taking the piss”

Your last few sentences hit the nail on the head and as we all know “its a very small world”

Btw, best of luck with your venture

Talk soon
Fergus

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