Reddit and JotSpot Acquired

Two Web 2.0 companies' acquisitions were announced today: JotSpot by Google, and Reddit by Wired. hpcanswers writes, "Google has bought JotSpot, a maker of wiki software. From the linked FAQ: 'Google shares JotSpot's vision for helping people collaborate, share, and work together online. JotSpot's team and technology are a strong fit with existing Google products like Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Apps for Your Domain, and Google Groups.' The purchase price has not been disclosed." Coverage of the JotSpot deal is everywhere; Cnet's and the AP's are thorough. And MattSparkes writes, "The user-generated news site Reddit has been bought out by Wired's parent, Condé Nast, for an undisclosed sum. As the great big Web 2.0 bubble continues to inflate towards the popping point, and Boston sees a few more young millionaires move west, who will we see bought out next?"

No Bubble This Time

I don't believe that we will approach a bubble like we did in the late 90's. The very fact that people are apprehensive about such evaluations is a good sign that hopefully things will stay in check.

37 Signals wrote a good article a while back trying to k

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If you have the ability to ask the question "Am I insane?", then you are not insane.

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This is not true. I can ask any question I want, yet still I remain batshit insane. ;)

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If you have the ability to ask the question "Am I insane?", then you are not insane

Does this mean that if I have the ability to ask the question "Are you insane?" then I am not insane?

Because if so I have to ask - are you insane?

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Here's the problem with saying "web 2.0" is bubbleproof. That whole thing about approximation and expectation of ROI based on what you think the company will do in the future. This means it's justified because they see some continued growth indefinitely

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I don't think anyone believes web 2.0 is bubble proof. While some of these companies are going for a ton of money. (youtube, myspace) given there ranking in terms of Internet traffic these amounts are not absurd.

The others seam to be going for less then 50

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I don't believe that we will approach a bubble like we did in the late 90's.

I think this is true as well, but I have another reason to add to yours: the economy is quite a bit different now. The late 90s were very good times economically. These days, thi

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Hilarious; shortly after that post by the 37 Signals folks, Jeff Bezos made an undisclosed investment in 37 Signals! Bezos!

I Know I Know!

As the great big Web 2.0 bubble continues to inflate towards the popping point, and Boston sees a few more young millionaires move west, who will we see bought out next?

Slashdot! By ... um ... Google. And it will be bundled in with everything else and called YouGoogleDot Beta. It will be improved by parsing our comments and suggesting goods and services to us based on our thoughts and rantings. The sections will change slightly with the 'Google' section being renamed to 'The Section' and all the other being given the prefix of 'Google's Attempt to Build a Better.'

However, if Steve Ballmer buys Slashdot, it might be shut down with the server boards & hard drives made into urinals in Ballmer's private bathroom. Oh, think of all the bright futures of the mighty Slashdot!

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Slashdot! By ... um ... Google. And it will be bundled in with everything else and called YouGoogleDot Beta. It will be improved by parsing our comments and suggesting goods and services to us based on our thoughts and rantings.

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I really think they would be more like this:

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Re:I Know I Know!

Your sig should read:

Slashdot: A place where I'm +5 Insightful when I really tried my best to be funny.

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Slashdot is already owned by VA or OSTG or whatever it's called this week.

Plan for early retirement

1. Make start-up company with an "innovative" idea, (i.e. ANYTHING considered Web 2.0)
2. Wait for Google to buy you
3. Retire and relax

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Step 3 is wrong. They buy the company and still expect them to work on the project. The employees are just wealthy now.

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Doesn't stop you from burning out and quitting six months latter, and cashing out your Google stock to invest in something a little more diverse.

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Umm ... companies realized a long time ago that they need to tie the founders of companies up post-acquisition. This type of deal include "velvet handcuffs" that defer a significant portion of the its value for a number of years. Typically, it a 2-3 yea

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Seriously, with the number of interviews required to get a job at Google down to a mere 5.1, [wsj.com] I wonder which is easier: Getting a job at Google or just starting your own company and waiting for them to buy you out?

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No, no, yoo left out the crucial step:
1. Start-up company
2. ???
3. Google buy-out
4. Profit!

JotSpot?

After YouTube a wiki version of the blogging service... how could we all have missed that great business opportunity? (Note: sarcasm).

Blogs, comments, threaded forums and wiki's are just different ways of organizing, collecting and storing information. Wou

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Users? I don't think so, they appear to be a startup. I only heard of jotspot the other day and only then because they sponsor or develop the dojo framework. This move by Google looks to be intended to prevent a competitor from acquiring them.

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JotSpot is going downstream from the enterprise. That leaves SocialText and eTouch SamePage. Thanks for being a competitor Jot.

Can the Borg innovate ?

The Borg [userfriendly.org], she grows - resistance is futile. [userfriendly.org]

No, jokes aside - I'm starting to have serious doubts about google's internal innovation engine. As someone recently pointed out [slashdot.org], the reason startups are innovative are because they aren't constrained. From w

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Personally, I respect the fact that Google is acquiring these startups rather than copying the ideas of said startups. Why put writely, jotspot etc out of business by copying them? It seems much less evil to at least pay off the startups who showed the ini

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Why put writely, jotspot etc out of business by copying them? It seems much less evil to at least pay off the startups who showed the initiative to come up with something new.

Probably because in the past, Google's [google.com] offering was less popular than a comp [youtube.com]

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Google buying start-ups is nothing new, and I don't know why you are finding this to be evil. So what if they are also importing innovation (and smart people at the same time)? Is there anything evil in this? Did they ever discontinue a service they bought

er

y'know, I really try to keep up with such things, but am I the only one here who hasn't heard of either of these companies before?

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Possibly. I for one am a bit ashamed at my past allegiance to the Google ethos. However I am not sure this is part of what I signed on for. Google can go a lot of ways with these acquisitions. Straight to hell being one of them.

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I'd never heard of JotSpot before, and since it won't allow me on the site while they migrate to Google's servers I can't tell what exactly it does.

Reddit, on the other hand, has quickly become one of my favourite and most visited sites. I'd highly recomme

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JotSpot is a wiki style online collaboration tool. It's particularly useful when you have several remote team members that need to organize in different time zones / countries, whatever. Not half bad actually.

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Maybe it's just me but I don't consider google in the same range as Yahoo, Netscape, ...

Yahoo, Netscape, Hotmail, ... always got something working against them. They lacked the final touch.

Google has been "right" from the start, there, listening to the use

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What does this have to do with anything?

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What I meant is that you can't compare them with yahoo or netscape or whatever.

Souding like a googlot; they have the right attitude so I don't think they'll fail at whatever they do, if they can keep their heads open.

And rereading the GP beta means beta, i

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Their signup [jotspot.com] page said they were sending me an account activation email, but no joy (yet).

The Bubble is the Joy of a Non-Commercial Web

It seems when these "2.0" companies get bought out they really start to suck. So the user's and buyer's expectations pop like a favorite ballon who was just discovered by the cat.

This is why were seeing a new breed of mySpace and Facebooks evolve and next

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they start to suck becuase of what the buyers do to them.

At least this bubble...

... is focused towards buyouts of non-profitable companies by other companies instead of IPO offerings, hurting individuals who invest. What web 2.0 companies have gone public without a profitable business plan lately? None? This may be a bubble, but it is

Perhaps they can make jotspot less crap.

"You can't edit this comment using wiki markup because it's been edited in WYSIWYG mode"

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Not to mention that you were only allowed to have 20 pages for free. After that you had to pay.

Condé Nast is not just Wired

Most non-Slashdot readers would probably know them more from their ownership of The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue.

JotSpot User

I've heard of people who met actual jotspot users. No kidding.

I've used jotspot

JotSpot is actually a pretty great wiki. It's not as widely-used as mediawiki, of course (since mediawiki is an application, not a service), but it has a lot of powerful features. The most notable feature is forms.

Forms allow you to tag a page as a particu

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Yes, I was referring to you in my GP post.

Mr Kraus last year

But last year Mr Kraus (co-founder of Excite) had different opinion on Google [nytimes.com].
Here's the juicy excerpt from the article:

To place Google in context, Mr. Kraus offered a brief history lesson. In the 1990's, he said, I.B.M. was widely perceived in Silicon