Because Web Browsers are so Nineties

This morning, in the train to Koblenz heading for project work, I was reading a great new German magazine “Weave”  about interactive web design . (no relation – cool reading)

It was all about rich media interfaces, Flash, Air, Video, even Powerpoints  and the use in corporate communications. The headline is from David Lindermann, Creative Director at Hi-Rest.London. I started thinking about the connection between corporate communication and RIA’s, as we see developing on the net right now.

In the aftermath of the community day in Bonn, the theme of Flash and Rich Media/RIA  in ABAP Web Dynpro was somewhat sticky in my head. While I am usually not so innovative when it is about using the latest and greatest (my SE80 Editor is still on “Classic”), I haven’t seen the value addition in programming flipping 3D item descriptions  in SAP shopping cart applications.

But when you look at the new area of information processing, that is developing around something that Tim O’Reilly has called “Shadow Information”, these possibilities start making sense.  Every object like Book, Employee, Invoice etc. has a shadow of information – a review at amazon for a book, a facebook page of an employee, the partner information for an invoice.  And all information itself have a tangible key information, like the social security number of an employee or the ISBN of a book

Information Management in the future will develop data models based on all information, there tangible key as well as their information shadow. And this shadow is full of rich media, of information lines that will develop not only in terms of descriptive Information, but rather a trail of videos, pictures and geo-based relations.

And then, using technologies like Flash and Siverlight, like augmented, enriched and interactive videos or just plain community sites makes perfect sense even in a Web Dynpro Frame. When I look at the “Islands development”  and take into account of what Tom Jung presented at the community day for the future of Web Dynpro ABAP, then,  in the next two years, we will see the amount of new media interaction and presentation of augmented information will create a new kind of SAP-application, that will be a mash up of traditional ERP-Silo-Applications, Netweaver Web Dynpros and Information Shadows in one container. And this container may not be your SAPGUI or your Browser, but maybe your iPhone, iPad or your wearable headset with eye screens  or the mobile that can project any picture on any wall.  OK, maybe not in the next two years on your site, but we can carry on the enthusiasm for innovation.

There is cool stuff coming up.