Does Cloud Computing Help Create Network Effect To Support Crowdsourcing And Collaborative Filtering?
Nick has a long post about Tim O'Reilly not getting the cloud . He questions Tim's assumptions on Web 2.0, network effects, power laws, and cloud computing . Both of them have good points. O'Reilly comments on the cloud in the context of network effects: "Cloud computing, at least in the sense that Hugh seems to be using the term, as a synonym for the infrastructure level of the cloud as best exemplified by Amazon S3 and EC2, doesn't have this kind of dynamic." Nick argues: "The network effect is indeed an important force shaping business online, and O'Reilly is right to remind us of that fact. But he's wrong to suggest that the network effect is the only or the most powerful means of achieving superior market share or profitability online or that it will be the defining formative factor for cloud computing." Both of them also argue about applying power laws to the cloud computing. I am with Nick on the power laws but strongly disagree with ...