convergance vs. modularity
September 3rd, 2006 Stephen Lau
Geoff’s post getting a blackberry prompted a great follow-up comment by Alec.
I’ve often thought about convergance vs. modularity. The geek in me agrees with most of Alec’s comments… I’ve yet to find a cell phone that plays games as good as a PSP, or a PDA that is as small and easy to dial with as a cell phone, or a cell phone that can play 20 hours of mp3s with a great interface and USB connectivity, etc. etc. so, yes… I do carry individual devices that I think are the way to go (for now), and as Alec put it: “modularity and incremental upgrading wins”. That’s very Unix-y isn’t it? Independent devices built for one purpose and one purpose only…
But on the other hand, the sane person in me who likes to wear shorts with two pockets and doesn’t want to carry 8 things in them says that’s bull. I don’t think digital convergance is rubbish - I would love to have a single uber-device that did everything. I see the cell phone getting there…. its PDA functions are almost there, and I don’t doubt that in a year or two it’ll be ready to replace my mp3 player as well. I don’t foresee it taking over the digital camera market (at least not the mega-zoom, semi-prosumer market that I would buy my next camera in)- but yes… I do think that in a short amount of time - I would love to have a digitally-converged device.
[tags: SeriousThoughts]
4 Comments Add your own
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1.
alecm | September 3rd, 2006 at 12:09
Get a purse.
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2.
Steve | September 4th, 2006 at 08:23
Whaddaya think I’ve been trying to do for the past year!
Hmmm, trying to create the ultimate infotainment device by yourself is tough work!
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3.
Geoff | September 8th, 2006 at 15:45
I now have my Blackberry, and so now I’m going to have to go out and buy a REALLY TINY little digital camera - something credit card sized, like the EXILIM. Because even if I got a purse [?sporran], there’s no way I’m putting my big ol’ Kodak camera in a purse. A backpack, maybe.
[And how come this is categorized under OpenSolaris?]
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4.
Stephen Lau | September 8th, 2006 at 16:49
the Exilim is a very sweet camera. the one i last purchased for a friend had a little bit of barrel distortion at high zoom, but was otherwise exquisite.
i don’t mind carrying a “man-purse” when i’m traveling (partly because i’ve got more to carry with my notepad, maps, camera, etc.) - but somehow it seems like such a faux pas in the states. i dunno why.
and it was accidentally categorised under the default OpenSolaris category. refiled under SeriousThoughts (which get their own category, because…well… i have so few of ‘em)
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