From: Gregory Alan Bolcer (gbolcer@endtech.com)
Date: Tue Jun 27 2000 - 10:39:27 PDT
From what I understand:
Old: You get an email with some static information, you get some more
email with updated static information.
New: You get one email with dynamic information. Everytime you view
that email it always has the latest updated information.
It's very useful in some contexts. In some way, it's similar to
integrating push/email in with collaborative Web editing. I think
someone should educate Doerr on collaborative Web protocols.
Greg
Mike Masnick wrote:
>
> At 01:34 AM 6/27/00 -0700, Rohit Khare wrote:
> >[I leave it as an exercise to the reader to enumerate the assumptions
> >embedded within. My email client is up and running 95% of the time,
> >but it surely doesn't have my attention. And DHTML email still
> >doesn't make sense as a "platform". It's just emailed bookmarks! What
> >am I not seeing here? --Rohit]
>
> I've discussed Firedrop with two different people who were thinking of
> taking jobs there, and no one seems to be able to figure them out. They
> have all the makings of a huge flameout...
>
> First of all, they released some Zaplets a while back. The only Zaplet
> I've ever received (or heard of anyone receiving) was to test it out (which
> proved to be quite a pain). I haven't seen any indication that this is
> spreading by word of mouth about how great it is - and if ever there were a
> product to do that (assuming it was great) this would be an easy one to
> spread.
>
> Second, *all* of the hype seems to be coming from "friends" of Kleiner
> Perkins. Also, it seems way too strong. They're hyping it as if they're
> trying to convince people that they're not hyping it, and all the users
> actually think it's a big thing... If that's the case, where are all those
> users? Finally, when hype focuses on founders rather than what the company
> is doing I get worried. While that's not totally true in this case there
> are a number of stories out there about how one of the Firedrop founders
> used to work for the CIA.
>
> Third, their big claim was that people won't have to "go" to a webpage any
> more since it will be sitting in their inbox... Okay, well, that means I
> need to "go" to my inbox and find the right message. To me, this is a much
> bigger pain then going to a webpage.
>
> Fourth, they make a huge assumption that people are going to be willing to
> pay them for this functionality. Why? The only customer they seem to dig
> up in every article is the Republican Party.
>
> I also like the comments from the CEO of Evite about Firedrop (link below)
> where he basically says they tried to do the same thing a year ago, but
> customers didn't like it or understand it. I believe it... It's not like
> they're solving a need, they're trying to create a need based on something
> they think is cool. What's the problem they're solving? I don't see it.
>
> http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/04/05/zaplets/print.html
>
> But... the hype keeps on coming. I keep trying to figure out what I'm
> missing as well...
>
> -Mike
-- Gregory Alan Bolcer | gbolcer@endtech.com | work: 949.833.2800 Chief Technology Officer | http://www.endtech.com | cell: 714.928.5476 Endeavors Technology, Inc. | efax: 603.994.0516 | wap: 949.278.2805
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