Rubel brings us more of his thoughts as to where 2006 will be headed. Also, I’d encourage you to see what Chris thinks we can expect for the coming year as well.

In the desktop software industry (and elsewhere) there’s a common ailment known as “feature creep.” Wikipedia defines this as “a phrase used to describe software which over-emphasizes new features to the detriment of other design goals, such as simplicity, compactness, stability, or bug reduction.”

Today’s web-based apps differ greatly from their evolutionary PC-bound cousins, notably in their social features. However, late this year to me it became apparent that the Web 2.0 world too is suffering from feature creep. The Web-app industry in 2005 resembled the space race in 1955. The focus has been on launching “cool stuff” quickly, rather than building a five-nine compliant businesses. The one shining star is 37 Signals, perhaps thanks to their Zen-like, Phil Jacksonesque philosophy of keeping things simple. [Read the rest]