Web Engines Hackfest
I will be at Web Engines Hackfest, meeting with people who want to figure out where browsers should be going next.
I proposed a breakout on Browser Funding After Search Deals:
Browsers have, for the most part, a simple business model: a search engine pays them in exchange for market share. Over the past two decades, these deals have constrained browser user interfaces into a set of patterns that don't risk interfering with search traffic, have constrained users into continually degrading search experiences, and have organised a system that contributes to defunding the rest of the web.
Thankfully, the legality of these arrangements has been called into question and even though the situation remains fluid, browsers are looking for new sources of revenue. What does that look like? What becomes possible if we are no longer bound by the UX choices of our ancestors in which we have to drive eyeballs to a search engine as fast and often as we can? This session will brainstorm alternatives, will explore both new UX and new business models. Multihoming search? Integrating commerce? Ads? Social? It's all on the table.
If it happens, I hope I'll see you there!