If you’re writing a piece of software chances are this might be your biggest competitor. Helping people stay in touch with their friends? There’s an app for that. Designing user interfaces (or anything else really)? Yeah, paper can do that. Helping someone take notes? Check. To-do list? Check. Bingo Cards? Check. Keeping track of client details? Check. Tabulating sales? Check. Keeping a journal? Check. Writing a novel? Check. Archiving? There are paper documents over 1000 years old that are still intact. Sure, it isn’t perfect. You can’t send it around the world with the click of a button, but it has some advantages too. It doesn’t need batteries or electricity. It’s cheap and flexible. It’s portable. It doesn’t make you feel like an idiot when you make a mistake. You don’t need to ‘install’ it, or keep it patched. It’s compatible with all the writing implements in the world. If you’re writing a piece of software you’d better make damn sure you have some compelling reasons why your app is better than paper.
In the enterprise, this is your second-biggest competitor (well, not this version…2003, but you get the idea).
Image Credit: Mark78_xp