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Tactical Questions
(Chapter 1)Are your web site, storefront, web presence, development ecosystem, and user experience aligned with and open to collective user value best practices?
G.ho.st, at first glance, seems very solitary and not open to collective user value. However, after digging a bit deeper into the interface and options available to the user, it becomes obvious that G.ho.st has many ways that users can collaborate, share, and communicate. First, G.ho.st allows the use of several instant messaging programs including ILoveIM, MeeboIM, and Yahoo Messenger. Zvi, the founder of G.ho.st, recommends using ILoveIM, which integrates Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Google IM accounts into one easy to use interface. With each G.ho.st account, there is also a free Ghostmail account provided, giving users access to email which also can be synced with other email accounts as well. Ghostmail integrates into many other applications within the G.ho.st platform, making it easy to attach files and easily email them to contacts.
In addition to the many communication options listed above, G.ho.st also has several ways of collaborating with other users of G.ho.st. The buddy list window shows a list of friends that have been requested and approved. For each contact in the list, a status is provided which indicates their availability, custom icon, and a link to their profile. Buddies can be communicated with through the buddy window and sharing access can also be modified for each buddy.
File sharing within G.ho.st can be done on several levels with a complete level of customization. By default, files are specified as private. This option can be changed on an individual file basis or on a specific folder to allow others to view them. Global sharing can be done, making a file public and giving all users access to view the information. Buddy sharing allows an additional level of sharing in that in addition to being allowed access to view a file, buddies can also be given permission to edit documents if desired. This is a very useful feature which allows collaboration on the creation and modification of documents between separate users.
Being still considered in an alpha state, G.ho.st provides a myriad of options to users to collaborate and interact within the interface. There are several additions that could be useful to help foster a stronger network within the G.ho.st community. The addition of a more detailed and searchable profile with interlinking photos that are shared by the user would be a key feature that would likely draw many more users to the service and help expand the user base.
(Chapter 1) How do you encourage users to share information in public, where it can generate positive network effects? In other words, is your site “public by default”?
G.ho.st is a centralized location that users can store their personal documents and be ensured that they are safe and secure. With that in mind, G.ho.st is not set to “public by default”. Although many Web 2.0 tools such as Flickr use “public by default” as a way to generate positive network effects, such an assumption being made within a system like G.ho.st would surely have an extremely negative network effect. One of the selling features of G.ho.st is the ability to store data “in the cloud” and have access to it from many locations. Much of the data that is being stored is personal and users would not want to share it with the general public. If files were set to “public by default” sensitive information could involuntarily be shared causing numerous problems and a backlash at the G.ho.st administration. Therefor an appropriate decision to make files “private by default” has been made with G.ho.st and an additional step must be taken to manually share content with others. This allows G.ho.st to create positive network effects without upsetting its users.
(Chapter 4)Are there aspects of your business that are so far ahead of the competition that you could sell them as services?
The basic functions of G.ho.st, an operating system in the cloud, can definitely be sold as a service. Microsoft charges lots of money for such functionality, although it does provide many more options within Windows for this premium. The downfall of G.ho.st which prevents it from competing directly with other operating systems such as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux is the inability to run from a machine without having a traditional operating system and browser in place. If there were a way for G.ho.st to be run directly as a terminal service it would have the ability of directly competing with Microsoft, Mac OS, and Linux.
For now, I believe that G.ho.st is best suited in tailoring to the niche market which desires a centralized virtual desktop in the cloud. This niche market is set to explode in the coming years. In a report issued by Gartner Technology Research Insight, it is estimated that the Hosted Virtual Desktop will bring in $65.7 billion in revenue and have 49 million users by 2013(http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=920814). There are already many players within the HVD market and if G.ho.st takes the freemium approach, they can potentially capture a large part of this revenue. As stated clearly on the G.ho.st FAQ page, the current revenue stream is generated from Google searches performed from within the G.ho.st interface through AdSense. By offering free accounts to G.ho.st users, the amount of revenue generated can be compounded. Perhaps the addition of a premium membership with a larger storage space and additional services would allow G.ho.st to appeal to the heavy users while also stimulating revenue growth.
In addition to the virtual desktop services provided by G.ho.st, expansion has also been made into Ghost.cc. This subsidiary provides an organized file structure housed within Amazon’s reliable databases. The company positions this product as useful due to Amazon Web Services(AWS) not having an organizational heirarchy(folders). Ghost.cc provides this Cloud File System(CFS) which simplifies the storage within the reliable database that is owned by Amazon.
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