CLOSED: [2019-10-05 Sat 14:15] SCHEDULED: <2019-10-05 Sat>
:PROPERTIES:
:CREATED: [2019-10-05 Sat 12:29]
:ID: 2019-10-05-innovation
:END:
:LOGBOOK:
- State "DONE" from "DONE" [2020-07-06 Mon 14:56]
- State "DONE" from "NEXT" [2019-10-05 Sat 14:15]
:END:
Update 2020-07-06: quote from "State of the World 2020"
Frequent readers of my blog know that [[id:tags-microsoft][I'm not quite a fan of software
products by Microsoft]]. However, I was a fan of hardware done by
Microsoft since decades. I was using the very same Microsoft mouse for
probably twenty years. Yesterday, I was able to briefly test an
[[https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/mice/arc-touch-mouse/rvf-00052][Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse]]. Impressive device with brilliant design
solutions, particularly for mobile workers. I own a used Microsoft
Surface Pro 3 running Windows 10 which is a great concept and a
remarkable piece of technology. Only to mention a few examples.
Now, Microsoft announced [[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-duo][Surface Duo]] and [[http://msft.social/SurfaceNeo][Surface Neo]] - very unusual -
over a year in advance.
#+BEGIN_EXPORT HTML
#+END_EXPORT
#+BEGIN_EXPORT HTML
#+END_EXPORT
---------------------
These devices are scheduled for the holiday season of next year.
I'm not addressing hands-on experience and I also can not comment on
the various details that have yet to be analyzed on the final product.
From the pure concept point of view, it seems to be the case that
Microsoft has taken over hardware innovation leadership from Apple
some time ago. This may not have effects in our lives and for our
everyday desktops. For example, although [[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-studio-2/8sbjxm0m58t4?activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab][Surface Studio]] offers some
clever new functionality, hardly anybody will invest that amount of
money. Early adopters may be using these devices, helping to get
experiences with the additional possibilities.
Furthermore, it's a very clever strategic decision by Microsoft on the
mobile sector. Instead of [[https://www.businessinsider.de/samsung-galaxy-fold-mess-explained-2019-4?r=US&IR=T][going into a disaster with foldable mobile
displays]], Microsoft chose to use to use 360-degree hinges instead.
This way, they are able to come up with the necessary user experience
and workflow adaptions while being able to sell foldable devices
without hardware issues.
Let me be clear: we are still in the stone-age of the information age
as I have stated, e.g., in [[id:2017-02-10-evolution-of-systems][this blog post]]. We're still stuck in
"Application-Centric Systems" while we should strive for
"Information-Centric Systems" or even "Application-Less Systems".
Concept-wise, we should focus on a [[id:tags-decentralization][decentralization]] in order to avoid
nowadays omnipresent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in][lock-in effects]]. A few multinationals occupy the
market and do not allow any substantial change.
This all comes down to a very ironic situation. Everybody tends to
have a certain level of respect when creating hardware. Nobody seems
to have this kind of respect when creating or modifying software.
"Hardware can not be patched" is a common saying. While this still
being true, hardware is the only domain we are really making progress.
There is no such thing as a backward-compatibility from an end-user
perspective except the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholes_and_Glidden_typewriter#QWERTY_keyboard][bad user input]] devices. We are facing a huge
lock-in effect with the established software landscape. Therefore, it
seems to be impossible to expect any evolution in software. This is
quite unfortunate since we know for decades that [[id:tags-pim][our current systems
are not even close to be good]].
Update 2020-07-06: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Sterling][Bruce Sterling]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Lebkowsky][Jon Lebkowsky]] wrote [[https://people.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/507/State-of-the-World-2020-Bruce-St-page01.html#post10][in the
"State of the World 2020"]] a comment on the lack of innovation in
general:
#+BEGIN_QUOTE
Also, there's no technological innovation in MMXX. Innovation
and invention are out of style. The closest we've got to innovation
is "capital moating," where you start some allegedly technical
company to screw around with, say, hotels or taxis, and throw so
many billions at the project that businessmen are awed. That's
financially innovative -- sort of -- it's like the space-aviation
biz staying aloft by angling subsidies. That's not Moore's Law,
there's nothing amazingly great that is busting out of the garage to
set Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon-Microsoft on their ear. There is
no wonderment, because there is no reason to wonder.
The fix is in. The Industry has consolidated. Best of the year
lists from tech journalists have been replaced by lists of the worst
things happening in tech. For the first time in my life, it's
getting hard to find any genuine technical novelty.
#+END_QUOTE
I can certainly agree on that rationale.