Politics and the Net: What about the software?
Wired News reports that General Wesley Clark entered the race due largely to online prompts to do so. This is another example of how the net is affecting politics in a radically new way. This represents an interesting twist in what has already been a fascinating year in terms of the net’s influence on the political process… and it could have some impact on software delivery. The Wired article points out that this is just the beginning, though. Drafting a candidate is a very different thing from trying to get that candidate to be elected and it is obvious that the Internet will be a critical element in establishing who the nominee will be on the democratic side of the 2004 presidential campaign and will probably be a critical element in the overall campaign. New tools like weblogs have enabled people to have a clear impact on the presidential process. Moving forward, the use of technology is only going to increase and presidential candidates might find themselves in a state where they become software producers to gain an edge over their competitors. Once that happens, one could start asking questions relating to use and distribution of the software they create….