Six Apart's recent outage has been called everything from catastrophic to "a perfect storm". Cooler heads have logged in with urgings of patience and understanding. Certainly, it was quite a bump in the road for TypePad users. Six Apart isn't alone with system failure this week. Om Malik points to a number of on-line services that disappointed users lately.
Michael Parekh calls Six Apart's problems a "wake-up" call and I agree, but it goes beyond Six Apart.
In the rush to conquer the dance floor that is Web 2.0 we all get turned on by sexy new services and features. We all get a bit titillated by the next big thing. But, my hunch is that it is a minority that pays attention to the plumbing. It's analogous to all the security issues in Windows. We get more exciting and flashier features and then scream bloody murder when security or operating issues arise.
But what happens to the data or content when there is a failure. Scary thought in a Web 2.0 world. I've gotten so used to a double redundancy strategy for data that resides on my machines that it is almost second nature. But data/content on someone else's server is another matter. I have to admit I went combing through my Onfolio stores yesterday to see what I could recreate if I needed to. Thank goodness it all was there. Thank goodness at the moment it looks like that won't be necessary.
On a number of fronts there have been some recent mumblings and stirrings about the future of the Internet and its plumbing. The stakes are getting higher and consequently the risks are rising as well. TypePad's failure not only affected bloggers like myself. Companies like The Washington Post and Major League Baseball have tied their blogging strategies to the TypePad tail.
Going back to that Microsoft Windows analogy, every now and then when I read about sexy new features in the same aggregator that I read about new threats I wonder if the investment in the sexy new features is worth the candle. I'm wondering today if the rush to Web 2.0 sexiness is just as short sighted.
Smarter heads and smarter voices than mine will be responsible for figuring all of this out. I just hope some of those smarter heads and smarter voices won't get drowned out by those pushing the sexy new features.
If the plumbing don't work, it doesn't matter how good a dancer you are. Sooner or later someone is going to look under the sheets.
