

Ask HN: Is online communication a solved problem? - anujkk

Today we have email, chat, instant messaging, video calling, video conference, blog, forums, QA groups, sms, mms and social networks. So, many ways to communicate on the web/mobile.<p>Is online communication a solved problem? Do you see any scope of improvement?
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jeffool
I'd still like to see open standards for IM and video/audio chat. And I think
Google was ahead of itself with Wave.

I'd use it as a back-end;a way to archive everything I say online in any
format. Include pictures/files sent, maybe include those linked as well. And
include correctable transcripts of audio in metadata for searching.

See the competition now between Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. Consider how they
could vary their services if they were all cataloging that much more.

Maybe I'm idealistic, but I think there's still room for a "Google moment"
where someone comes along and does something else so well, we're amazed that
everyone hasn't always been doing it that way. Though honestly, at this taste,
Google may just get there first.

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dholowiski
I think the forms of communication are there, and they work well. What it's
ripe for now is "convergence". Remember when your phone, internet, and TV were
all separate things? Now it's just all IP packets coming over a big pipe (for
most of us).

Now, your phone, email, IM, SMS Facebook/Twitter/Google are all separate
'things'. I think we're in the early days of convergence, where all of these
things are smooshing together. Think Google Voice (phone/sms) in your mailbox,
or IM along with Voice/Video (Skype). And we still have too many
identifiers... your skype id, your twitter id, your google + name, your home
phone number your office phone number etc. etc.

I really think the 'next big thing' will be the collapsing of all of these
ID's and services into one agregator(probably google). I'm not saying it's a
good thing, or that it will go smoothly, but it will happen.

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trussi
Are you interested in building cutting edge technology or building a business?

If you're interested in building a business, then there's a huge amount of
opportunity the online communications space!

I could probably think of 5 cushy niches that will print $20k-60k per month
with a very small team. Just look around you and identify occupations that
involve communication and build a communication product around that
occupation's process.

It's a relatively simple and straight-forward process to building a business
that lots of technical folks overlook because it's not sexy. I'll take
profitable over sexy any day.

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mooism2
There are lots of problems with online communication, but most of the big ones
are sociological rather than technological problems.

Tone of voice problems might have a technological component to the solution
(c.f. spam).

Automatic translation needs improving. Yes, it's incredible what's been
achieved, but the translations are low quality.

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mike-cardwell
A major problem with online communication is the lack of privacy.

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stewie2
of course not! as long as there is internet censorship!

