Is There More To Technology?

from the project-oxygen dept

I've been reading about Michael Dertouzos's Project Oxygen for a while now, and I'm not sure if it's a good idea, or just too much. The basic concept is that he's upset that computers haven't really made our lives much easier. They've just made them complicated in different ways. So, he wants computers that really do make life easier - and he doesn't think that we're going to get there the way things are going. Most development today is evolutionary instead of revolutionary. A nice quote that explains this in words better than I could have come up with: "They're just painting the screens, using different icons, adding a few more features. It's the same trash can -- it's just a different color. But it still stinks. We can't get to the moon by climbing a tree. If you want to get to the moon, you have to build a rocket ship." These are valid points, but there is something to be said for building things evolutionarily and figuring out what works and what doesn't. You're also a lot more likely to find customers accepting of what you're building.

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