But, while doing that I ran across this item by Dare Obasanjo: Google MyMaps vs. Frappr: A Feature Isn’t a Business.

Oh, I totally agree.

Before I go on, I’m sorry that I didn’t note that Microsoft’s Virtual Earth had Google’s new feature before it did. My bad. and it’s good of Dare to call us on that. Which one is better? I need to play more before making such a judgment.

But, I saw Frappr last year and didn’t hype it up, even though it was a feature I desperately wanted on mapping services. Why? Cause I knew the big boys were already working on stuff like that and even if they weren’t it was too obvious a feature.

Just like I expect that some day I’ll be able to put a little review of my favorite sushi restaurants right on top of maps. I’m shocked, actually, that that feature hasn’t yet been delivered by Yahoo, Microsoft, or Google.

There are just some features that are OBVIOUSLY going to be pulled into the big company’s yard at some point (and, will work better if they are — did you miss the massive data centers that Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google are building around the world?).

I think it’s TOTALLY INAPPROPRIATE to use this trend, though, to predict the death of Web 2.0. If you think Web 2.0 is about building features that’ll be pulled into Google or Microsoft then you are missing the bigger trend here.

That said, there’s plenty of companies who are developing features and hoping to get bought. I saw several at the Under the Radar conference a week ago. I generally didn’t hype them up either. I’d rather hype up something like Concept Share, which goes beyond just a feature and into a total system that adds value to designers’ lives.