Dave is really pushing me about why echoditto isn't a software vendor. We spent the better part of our conversation at breakfast yesterday talking about this. When we started EchoDitto ten months ago, we believed that other companies would step in and fill the software gap. Our reasoning was based on a bit of delusion, and a bit of what the prospective clients knocking on our doors wanted (i.e, consulting, not tech). We predicted a natural evolution of web platforms into something better.

We were wrong.

I don't agree with Dave about making EchoDitto into a pure software company, especially a closed source one. The few times EchoDitto has sold a technology-only solution (website, tool, etc.), we have enjoyed a competitive advantage in that our software source-code was open. Why does this help? Well, many of our clients have multiple websites, and having to pay for the software platform only once (i.e., the code is customized to our clients and re-used across multiple websites) can be a huge cost-saving. Other clients have been burned by vendor-specific platforms and the openness is meaningful to them. EchoDitto is a "platform-agnostic" consulting firm; we've worked with almost every product out there.

The fact remains, however, that we progressives don't have a good web platform. And my conversations with certain vendors leads me to believe a comprehensive solution ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

To be fair, we progressives are only now figuring out what this internet/online community thing is about. We're starting to understand what blogging and what RSS is, for example, and why they're important. And that's just blogging software: what about online community building and fundraising? What about podcasting? The list goes on and on.

Regardless, we agreed to two essential points:

1. We need a decent, inexpensive solution ASAP
2. We need a forum to talk about it and to move.

What do you guys think?

PS: Pam & Sarah, stop following me around. It makes me uncomfortable.