A piece in Businessweek discusses how and why the gethuman project has not lived up to the revolutionary promises it made when it was launched in late 2005.
What happened? English learned that no matter how effective online consumer crowds may be, full-blown change still takes the passion and energy of committed individuals. "If you're going to try to do a standard," he says, "you need someone who is really going to drive it." English admits his busy schedule as chief technology officer of fast-growing travel search engine Kayak.com played a part in the slowdown, but he never intended the site to take up much of his time in the first place: "I wanted the citizens of the Web to run this."
Leading a movement is a thankless task that requires a great deal of passion and selfless sacrifice.
I suspect that Microsoft and Nuance pulled one of the oldest tricks that establishments pull when they need to neutralize an agitator: flatter them and pretend to join them.
Also: I think the main reason that English lost steam is that he had no strategy for reform: he agitated and that was that.
Agitating is useful and necessary. But reform requires a long-term program with the patient building of allies and the steady shaping of opinion.
But I don't think his efforts have been in vain at all. The movement truly needs to be picked up from within the industries that deploy Speech IVR solutions with bridges to consumer watch dogs to put steady pressure on companies to invest in the deployment of quality speech solutions.
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