Overhyped Innovations (was Re: OS's In ROM's (was: Re: Mac Classic prob (wa

From: George Currie <g_at_kurico.com>
Date: Sat Jun 27 16:21:56 1998

> BTW, I enjoy collecting over-hyped innovations that never quite caught
> on in the way they were supposed to: Bubbles. Pen-based computers.
> Touch screens. Wireless networks. Bob. MSX. Robots. AI. Home
> automation. The Z8000. The iAPX432. Parallel processing. Voice
> recognition.
>
> What did I miss?

You forgot optical media. Back when hd's were just a few hundred meg, optical
media, specifically MO, was touted as being our only hope of breaking the 1GB
barrier in a cost effective manner. Then there is always interactive tv. Or
CASE tools. Or the battle of the buses, MCA vs. EISA. To a lesser extent
RISC.

I think a few people have mis-read what you said. You state "innovations that
never quite caught on the way they _were_supposed_to". Not that those
innovations aren't still around and doing well, it's just that they didn't become
the "new paradigm" that their inventors (and/or the press) were originally
touting. Pen based computers are an excellent (and recent) example. Back
when the first units were coming out, the pen was going to become the input
device of choice for all computers, that is if you believed the hype being spewed
out by the computing press.

I do however don't necessarily agree about touch screens. Mainly because I
don't ever remember it being that overly hyped (not that it wasn't, I just don't
remember) or anyone thinking that it would become something more than what
it really was.


George
Received on Sat Jun 27 1998 - 16:21:56 BST