A developer's history lesson in technology

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Category: Opinion

Published on Sunday, 30 June 2013 02:23

Written by Christian Dunn

It is very easy in this modern world to forget just home far technology has come, and how fast, and it appears in many cases this is lost on the people implementing this technology. 1990 doesn't seem like a long time ago, in fact it was only 23 years but anyone over 30 watching the video below will begin reminiscing the early days of computing technology.

See this great walk through on How Computers Work from 1990...

This was a time when ipads and tablet computers didn't exist and the only place you would hear the word 'cloud' was in a weather report.

Anyone over 30 will remember how state of the art this was. I remember being the only one who could fix the classroom computer in my year 6 class in this year. From recollection this was an Intel AT 286. 6 years later I got my first mobile phone which was the size of a 1L milk bottle and weighed about the same. We all expect technology will change, in fact we are all salivating over the next edition of Android or iOS but technology is not timeless and I am pretty sure my 10 month old son will never want to inherit my LP record collection. 

Unfortunately we tend to forget that while the concepts of technology may remain for many years (my website is now 16 years old) that does not mean the physical technology does. My current car is under 10 years old, my previous car was 11 years old when I sold it and the car before that was almost 20 years old. I didn't replace these every 24 months when my contract came out or I could afford the next model. I replaced them when they outlived their usefulness or I had the means to upgrade to a newer model. How many of you have a television over 5 years old somewhere in your house?

Fortunately while my 20 year old car did originally come with a tape drive I could easily replace it with a CD drive by simply removing the stereo and upgrading it. That was only possible because my in car stereo was not part of a central computer system and did not manage speed alerts, navigation, fuel mileage and engine functions. It would almost be impossible to replace the stereo, or at least cost prohibitive, in my current car. This was a time when these were accessories of a car not features.

It seems that today every manufacturer in the hard goods market wants to jump on the current trendy feature functionalities which is fantastic for consumers, IN THE SHORT TERM. 

So let's look at a hypothetical. What if my 20 year old car had come with an integrated dock on the dash for my Apple Newton or iPAQ tablet? To pick a more modern example, what about somewhere to dock my Blackberry? Would you buy my used car? I would be laughed out of town. What practicable application could you have for a car that relied on an ageing technology? 

Apple demonstrated the rate of this technological obsolescence with the change to the lightning connector usb cord on the iPhone 5 that was incompatible with all previous versions. What if your car had a connector? I know of 10 year old cars where updates to navigation software are no longer available.

Now before you start commenting on adapters and alternatives let's not talk about now, let's look at 20 years from now. Yes, the Apple iPad and iPhone have been the stars of the last 5 years but Android is already creeping up and then there is Windows but in 20 years from now none of these organisations may be providing us with the technology that runs our daily lives. Even though this is the case I hear daily of reports of new cars or televisions with new integration features, apps and docks which is great, for now, but what happens in 5 years from now? or 10 or 20? 

So why are hardware manufacturers of long term hard goods taking expensive gambles on short term technologies? Cars and household appliances are the poster boys in this debacle. Does every fad need a feature? Will they support an upgrade in 20 years from now or is planned-obsolescence now a given and cars will be crushed every 5 years. It doesn't matter whether you are an Apple fanboy, a Samsung convert or an Android devotee, do you know what you will be using in 20 years from now, or even 5, but how likely is it you may have the same car, fridge or television? 

Don't get me wrong, I love technology, but as an implementer of these technologies surely an important consideration is the shelf life of the product? While my iPAQ still works, there are no more software updates or market for the device, or spare parts, so there is no Google Chrome, no App Store  and hence no real use. Would I still want these to be the music player in my car?  On the other hand my website still runs, on any device, it may have been updated more than a few times, but the fundamentals of HTML are the same. So if you are a car designer reading this, can I have an HTML 5 compatible integration solution for my car? No dock, no connector but instead a framework that will last the test of time. My car is not a $400 netbook and I am going to treat it accordingly. Who know what is next? Maybe my son will turn to me in 5 years from now and ask 'What is an iPhone?' so I don't want to have to show him the old one I keep to be able to play music in the car. Then I really will be feeling my age.