Wednesday, October 29, 2014
The Next Big Thing
Today in class we watched more videos about the computer industry's beginnings. While watching I thought about how many companies found success in those days by developing technologies no one yet had. I thought further that if so much has already been discovered how can another Microsoft or Novell take off? Then, as if reading my thoughts, Professor Dougal mentioned that the post office long ago had decided to close because everything that could be invented had been. It wasn't the case then and I don't believe that will ever be the case. I do however believe that the computer industry has become established enough that the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. For this reason the next big thing in computing will have to come from an area no one's looked at before. It will seem to come completely out of left field. How interesting it will be to see the next big thing when that day comes.
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You're right. The next big thing will come from a place no one thought possible. It won't be by trying to make science fiction reality. It will be from someone who has a need (or perceives a need) and has some ideas on how to solve it. The iPod was developed because Steve Jobs and Jony Ive (among others) were completely dissatisfied with music players of the day, and they knew they could do better. The iPad (whose development actually preceded the iPhone) was developed because Steve Jobs saw the then current state of tablet computers and decided that someone needed to show Microsoft how to make a tablet that people would actually want to use. Google saw that the internet was growing faster than the current index engines could handle, so they built a new kind of search engine. What need do you see?
ReplyDeletePS I love the title of your blog. I've often thought the same thing.