Comment Yes, it is. (Score 1) 733
There was another article in the WSJ last week talking about how the lifecycle of hardware has extended to 5 years. Other than games (and what business finds that a valid reason), there just isn't any software worth upgrading for. The vast majority of people (non-Slashdotters) continue to use their business machines for the same applications they were using them for 10 years ago: word-processing, spreadsheets, databases, and email.
The web has changed things somewhat by adding streaming media, but the future of "broadband" will be owned by those who own the content.
A year ago, I came to the same conclusion Larry Ellison did. General application software is dead. Software investment in the future will be in specialized applications. Look for companies that are developing software that addresses industry-specific problems: e.g. farm-managment, education, and of course biotechnology. Once I came to this conclusion, I quit my job in Silicon Valley and applied to PhD programs in Biology. Problems in genetics and biophysics are some of the most interesting out there (who wants to work on farm-management software?)
The web has changed things somewhat by adding streaming media, but the future of "broadband" will be owned by those who own the content.
A year ago, I came to the same conclusion Larry Ellison did. General application software is dead. Software investment in the future will be in specialized applications. Look for companies that are developing software that addresses industry-specific problems: e.g. farm-managment, education, and of course biotechnology. Once I came to this conclusion, I quit my job in Silicon Valley and applied to PhD programs in Biology. Problems in genetics and biophysics are some of the most interesting out there (who wants to work on farm-management software?)
