In the desktop software industry (and elsewhere) there's a common ailment known as “feature creep.” Wikipedia defines this as “a phrase used to describe software which over-emphasizes new features to the detriment of other design goals, such as simplicity, compactness, stability, or bug reduction.”
Today's web-based apps differ greatly from their evolutionary PC-bound cousins, notably in their social features. However, late this year to me it became apparent that the Web 2.0 world too is suffering from feature creep. The Web-app industry in 2005 resembled the space race in 1955. The focus has been on launching “cool stuff” quickly, rather than building a five-nine compliant businesses. The one shining star is 37 Signals, perhaps thanks to their Zen-like, Phil Jacksonesque philosophy of keeping things simple.
As Reuters noted today, our dependence on the Web 2.0 world is growing. Blogs and tagging sites exploded in popularity. However, as they also underscore, over the last several weeks there have been more than a number of major outages that left users stranded and frustrated.
In 2006 features will creep. In other words, the breakout Web 2.0 companies of 2005 will slow down in innovating ever so slightly as they make sure they have the infrastructure in place to grow. This build-out is not only critical for handling increased demands for their services, but more importantly to compete with Google, Yahoo and Microsofts who all live in “a five nines” world.
