Is it just me, or is discrete innovation disappearing? I remember the good old days, when technology companies were able to come up with unique and individual things.
Someone does a search engine. Everyone else does a search engine. Someone does web-based mail, everyone else does web based mail. The same with hardware… It’s just like Television. Take something good, like star trek, and turn it, into next generation, deeps space nine, voyager, and enterprise. Or CSI, and turn it into Miami, NY, and NCIS. For goodness sake. The franchise gets overworked.
I fully understand the need to competitive alternatives, but there has to be a point where one company looks at the product of another, and just says “We can’t beat that, and won’t even try”. Or heanven forbid, our competitors have done a good product. Let’s leave them to it, and actually do a complementary product instead.
Sure, the open systems world has told us that out of it’s auspices, we should be getting all sorts of interoperability, but gee, it’s never quite just where we would expect it to be. Or is that an intentional lock-in from the corporations.
One of my mentors, pointed out that there has been very little “new” in the last 30 years of technology - smaller, faster cheaper, yes, but where is the elusive next pardigm shift.
July 16, 2006 at 10:41 pm
I have an interesting viewpoint since I have been completely away from the US for 20 years.
Well we now have cell phones, Internet and laptops. People generally weigh about 50% more than before, TV still sucks, Cars are uglier, houses of built out of paper and glue. Things have changed but I see little or no innovation other than the computer.