Shortly after the discussion I remember thinking "I can't believe that I didn't also mention that e-mail and the phone are two other killer apps when I am searching for information."

As you point out in your note, e-mail and web browsing are killer apps, but we now take them for granted, as we do the phone (and cell phone). Once we start taking something for granted, does it lose its "killer app" status -- or should we put it in the Application Hall of Fame.

On a somewhat tangential note, when I watch old movies on TV, I am often struck by how many plotlines would completely unravel if the lead character had a cell phone. This is especially true of films where the lead character is in peril. The old movies allow us to see live as it was lived before the killer app, and our imaginations allow us to understand how the app has changed our lives going forward.

(My wife feels the same way whenever she sees movies including airport scenes where people are carrying their luggage rather than rolling it. For her, wheels on luggage are one of the best inventions of the last 30 years.)

Cheers,
Bruce Karney

Dave

Collaboration is very important to the success of most ventures these days. I wonder if we want collaboration in the "killer app" status, or if we want it to be more out there and obvious to the participants. Or another way to think about this is that collaboration has been around much longer than computers -- maybe it's good to realize just how critical it is to working together.

Of course, the concept of killer app breaks down when we talk about the "app" being the way people work together.