Even if Watson weren't faster, and weren't the model on which Sherlock 3 is based, the plug in architecture makes all the difference. Apple made two big mistakes in knocking off Watson:
1. They did the Microsoft embrace and extend thing, which is potentially fatal in Apple's case, because they don't have the market heft to go it alone without small developers.
2. They left out the most important part. Watson is engineered to be a platform, while Sherlock is only an application. And a platform strategy beats an application strategy every time. I don't know if tiny Karelia will beat Apple in this specific battle, but I guarantee that someone else (most likely Microsoft) will emulate the platform aspect of Watson as well as the application, and will end up owning this new and important space.
If I were Apple, I'd run, not walk, to engage Dan in discussions about how they can work with him to take his ideas to the next level.
Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. In addition to Foo Camps ("Friends of O'Reilly" Camps, which gave rise to the "un-conference" movement), O'Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the Web 2.0 Summit, the Web 2.0 Expo, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, the Gov 2.0 Summit, and the Gov 2.0 Expo. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar, "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. Tim's long-term vision for his company is to change the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators. In addition to O'Reilly Media, Tim is a founder of Safari Books Online, a pioneering subscription service for accessing books online, and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, an early-stage venture firm.
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