Eye of the Beholder

Computerworld - I saw some very good ideas, and a few great ones, at DemoFall last week. (You know the Demo gimmick: Each vendor gets just six minutes to pitch its new product.) A company called U3 lets you run your entire PC desktop directly from a USB thumb drive. IntelliReach has an appliance that keeps your e-mail system from ever going down, while Barracuda has a dandy instant-messaging firewall appliance. Sana Security and Determina have come up with new ways to block malware. And those are just some of the ones with IT-shop appeal (go to QuickLink a7160 for my quick takes on all 65 exhibitors).
And, as usual, I saw some bad ideas, too.
Like the one from Powware, which has a code-free application development system you use by drawing diagrams on a screen by hand -- it guides you through with audio prompts. Yeah, that's what professional programmers need. Or ActiveWord Systems, whose shorthand system for using tablet PCs is apparently for people who thought writing on a screen by hand wasn't kludgy enough.
A company called Skyler Technology believes its proprietary database technology (based somehow on using prime numbers to create indexes) can take over the world of huge, high-performance databases. H3.com has what may be best described as a system for kickback-based employee referral by virtual strangers; somehow they got their idea from the fact that the best would-be employees are recommended by current employees.
And United Keys offers a keyboard with little LCD displays on the function-key caps -- and they can change at a moment's notice, so you have to keep staring at the keyboard or you'll never be sure what any function key will do.
Are these truly bad ideas? They sure sound like it to me. But I'm glad they'll be on the market.
Why? Partly because it means investors are once again willing to make low-percentage bets on loopy IT product ideas. That's a sign that investment money is loosening up -- and business is picking up. When bad ideas can get funded, it's good news for good ideas, too.
But I'm also glad because I know the market is smarter than I am. Yes, these ideas sound hopeless to me. Among all the smart, elegant products trotted out at DemoFall for IT departments, consumers, retailers, real estate agents, bloggers, eBay shoppers and photo fanatics, these just seem clueless.
Truth is, though, the ground is littered with smart, elegant products. The market -- actual customers making actual buying decisions -- doesn't always