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Pundits Panel at WritersUA
Monday, April 10, 2006 — posted by Sarah
WritersUA kicked off with a pundits' panel. Here are my predictions from this session. I thought I was going out on a bit of a limb, but as there were predictions that the Internet would fail and/or be taken over by the government, I was apparently mistaken.1. IT industry
The party is over for software companies.
- "Good enough" open source software provides an 80/0 solution -- 80% of the functionality at 0% of the price.
- How do you maintain margins and force customers into upgrades when the alternative is free?
- Consumer software is becoming commoditized; business software is headed in the same direction.
- Salesforce.com >> SugarCRM
- MS Office >> OpenOffice
- One to watch: Alfresco (open source CMS)
2. User assistance
Increasing localization cost is driving changes in development and
delivery process for user assistance.
- "sim-ship" -- Simultaneous shipment of product in all languages; requires modular content development and "translate-as-you-go."
- XML-based publishing -- Reduces overall localization cost by slashing DTP costs.
- Content management -- increased reuse and better consistency means less localization cost.
- Localization becomes integrated into content development process instead of occurring afterward.
3. Tools and technology
Animation and simulation are the Next Big Thing, because:
- Alternatives to traditional classroom training are gaining popularity, and animation/simulation make them more effective.
- Visuals with minimal text require minimal localization effort.
- Most people are visual learners.
- Understanding animation requires less language skill than reading.
- BUT -- accessibility is a big issue.
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