Don’t call us, we’ll call you

Years ago and likely he has long since forgotten, Phil Edholm had mused that perhaps our model of phone calling your phone was outmoded. He described a world of a large ‘meet me’ conferencing server and I would simply be on a conference bridge all day long with people joining as they needed me (and vice versa).  Think of it like an office environment where people pop in ask a quick question and you’d have many of the tools for information exchange as you would have in person. Phil believed that in the future even a modestly powered server could support 10,000 people.

With WebRTC, that day has arrived. A single basic server can easily power 10,000 users.

We’re still very early into this new world of WebRTC and many of the demos making the rounds are cute trade show demos or university science projects. We’re learning about the power of the technology by experimenting. However, many of these demos are nothing but replications of things I already have.

There are two (2) types of problems. Problems that I know that I have and wish someone would solve and then there are the problems I don’t realize I have but would gravitate towards them immediately once I realize I have them. I know I have email problem. After 20+ years, it’s not as effective as it once was. Please help me! I’m not sure I’m having a communications problem, though on the fringe things like contact management, dialing into conference bridges and simply getting in touch with people could really be made simpler.

I have watched as others have attempted to re-create my communications experience. But do I really need video? Is that helpful? Is my current experience broken?

The simplicity and underlying power of WebRTC should allow for ‘fast failure’ and all experimentation is welcome. The notion that YOU could create an application in your spare time using an Amazon server for $40 a month that might change how the entire world communications has my head reeling both in anticipation and envy.