Denial of expertise(blog.fawny.org)
blog.fawny.org
Denial of expertise
http://blog.fawny.org/2010/04/04/expertise/
11 comments
I think iPad's detractors are concerned that people will enjoy using the iPad and that those who purchase it will be fenced in by Apple, with their options for enjoying their iPad restricted to those that make money for Apple.
In addition to this, I think the blogger missed that while those who make their own software often enjoy the process of making it, they tend to make what they want to use (i.e. they enjoy their product, not just its production).
"I personally believe 'cheap and barely works' triumphs over "beautiful and works well" often enough that things will turn out okay."
I agree with your sentiment. I'm not especially alarmed about this new walled garden. Our industry has been here before: IBM mainframes->minis->micros->mobile devices. Every step of the way a group identified weaknesses in the wall and exploited them to open up the platform. Someone will come around with a device to rival the iPad. It may not be as slick, but it'll be slick enough. The software may not be as well designed but it'll provide a good experience for a large number of people. It'll most likely be at a price point that more people can afford.
I agree with your sentiment. I'm not especially alarmed about this new walled garden. Our industry has been here before: IBM mainframes->minis->micros->mobile devices. Every step of the way a group identified weaknesses in the wall and exploited them to open up the platform. Someone will come around with a device to rival the iPad. It may not be as slick, but it'll be slick enough. The software may not be as well designed but it'll provide a good experience for a large number of people. It'll most likely be at a price point that more people can afford.
It's funny that in technology people apparently want 'beautiful things that work well' when in food, music, fashion, film, literature, politics etc. people can be relied on to choose the most banal, pedestrian, cheap, ugly, self-destructive and obvious of things. And after a while the market ensures that only those kinds of thing are offered to anyone not willing to put the effort in to seek the better alternatives out.
Since this exact dynamic almost killed Apple on a few occasions you'd think it would be relevant to any theory built around the reactions to their new product. Denial of expertise is very apt.
Since this exact dynamic almost killed Apple on a few occasions you'd think it would be relevant to any theory built around the reactions to their new product. Denial of expertise is very apt.
"Expertise needs schooling, maturation, taste, and quite a lot of attitude."
"Attitude"? Huh?
"This was the weekend those of us with high standards". Just what, precisely, is on that list of High Standards? Fanboy-ism?
"Don't talk to me about design and engineering principles....I'm too busy enjoying toast from my new, wonderful, life-changing toaster! It works great, so shut up."
:-)
"Attitude"? Huh?
"This was the weekend those of us with high standards". Just what, precisely, is on that list of High Standards? Fanboy-ism?
"Don't talk to me about design and engineering principles....I'm too busy enjoying toast from my new, wonderful, life-changing toaster! It works great, so shut up."
:-)
Right. Paid developers now write the majority of code in Linux. I'd say they are as professional as anyone. But the companies paying them generally have different goals than making the iPad equivalent. So perhaps this can be better explained by differing goals than some high standards?
I guess the way to find out is to see how Android does.
I guess the way to find out is to see how Android does.
Without open source code, there would be no iPhone or iPad or OS X or OS X server. The very innards are thinly veiled with a veneer of 'beautiful things' .The work well part is open source.
The Steampunk Workshop just published a defense of their Creative Commons status today. Coincidence? Well, maybe, but it's right on-topic. http://steampunkworkshop.com/steampunk-strat-and-creative-co...
OS X and that awesome guitar wouldn't exist without open source.
OS X and that awesome guitar wouldn't exist without open source.
At a certain point, you have to admit you aren’t good enough to do something better than an expert could do it even if the technical option exists for you to give it a shot anyway.
While people will tolerate a lot of things, what we want is beautiful food that looks good. There aren’t many nonexperts who can accomplish that. Expertise needs schooling, maturation, taste, and quite a lot of attitude.
The foregoing explains why home cooks have nothing to teach experienced chefs or indeed any artistic creators, since talent doesn’t scale as you give more and more cooks access to the pots and stoves in their own kitchens. It further explains why one’s inability to eat this (beautiful gourmet meal behind glass at a museum) means precisely nothing. Nobody needs to taste a gourmet meal to enjoy looking at it, except those who have no capacity for enjoyment other than eating and complaining about same.
This was the weekend those of us with high standards lost their remaining residue of patience for ideologues who hyperbolize about homemade food without actually creating something people want to look at.
While people will tolerate a lot of things, what we want is beautiful food that looks good. There aren’t many nonexperts who can accomplish that. Expertise needs schooling, maturation, taste, and quite a lot of attitude.
The foregoing explains why home cooks have nothing to teach experienced chefs or indeed any artistic creators, since talent doesn’t scale as you give more and more cooks access to the pots and stoves in their own kitchens. It further explains why one’s inability to eat this (beautiful gourmet meal behind glass at a museum) means precisely nothing. Nobody needs to taste a gourmet meal to enjoy looking at it, except those who have no capacity for enjoyment other than eating and complaining about same.
This was the weekend those of us with high standards lost their remaining residue of patience for ideologues who hyperbolize about homemade food without actually creating something people want to look at.
"Too many cooks spoil the broth."
What does that have to do with my ability to program my iPad? Or even multitask?
"This was the weekend those of us with high standards lost their remaining residue of patience for ideologues who hyperbolize about open systems without actually creating something people want to use."
The internet laughs at your attempt to suggest that no one wants to use it.
The internet laughs at your attempt to suggest that no one wants to use it.
Particularly clever readers will note the statement that people will tolerate a lot of things but want beautiful things that work well. We also want world peace. Maybe we don’t have it, but do you dispute we want it?
Who is "we"? I think plenty of people don't want world peace, actually. Look at Africa, Israel/Palestine, Shri Lanka, North Korea...
Nothing is wrong with wanting beautiful things. Nothing is wrong with wanting world peace.
However, you can make an argument that beautiful things without an open system is like world peace without freedom. Both give you what you want. Neither work well. Heck, the iPad and Apple even support this line of thinking. The iPad works on so many open systems, that without those same systems, the iPad simply couldn't exist the way it does today.
However, you can make an argument that beautiful things without an open system is like world peace without freedom. Both give you what you want. Neither work well. Heck, the iPad and Apple even support this line of thinking. The iPad works on so many open systems, that without those same systems, the iPad simply couldn't exist the way it does today.
"The foregoing explains why open source has nothing to teach literature or indeed any artistic creation"
Literature or arts has usually been done alone or in small groups. Science , engineering and software development is much more of a collaborative effort that can combine the works of many people together.
That might explain why open source is more useful in those fields.
Literature or arts has usually been done alone or in small groups. Science , engineering and software development is much more of a collaborative effort that can combine the works of many people together.
That might explain why open source is more useful in those fields.
"Expertise needs schooling, maturation, taste, and quite a lot of attitude."
Maturation, taste and attitude comes with experience. Experience comes from doing. When the tool in question, limits the doing, then where does the expertise come from? A bunch of people sitting behind a company fence telling you that they're the only experts? Doesn't sound right does it?
Maturation, taste and attitude comes with experience. Experience comes from doing. When the tool in question, limits the doing, then where does the expertise come from? A bunch of people sitting behind a company fence telling you that they're the only experts? Doesn't sound right does it?
"Experts can do some things better than you can." This assumes I am not an expert, but okay.
"People want beautiful things that work well" Sure, those are among the things people want.
"Not many nonexperts can accomplish that" This is pretty vague, I guess it sounds reasonable.
"Therefore open source has nothing to teach literature" What!? That doesn't follow at all from the preceding assumptions, but I guess it doesn't matter because as far as I can tell this point is just a decoy.
"Therefore one's inability to hack an iPad means nothing" Again, this doesn't really follow from the preceding assumptions, which is probably why a different justification is immediately given: "you can enjoy using an iPad without programming it."
True enough, but I haven't seen anyone claiming that an iPad's lack of openness is bad because people won't enjoy it. I think iPad's detractors are concerned that people will enjoy using the iPad and that those who purchase it will be fenced in by Apple, with their options for enjoying their iPad restricted to those that make money for Apple.
There is a concern that this model will spread to other devices, and that eventually consumers will choose to give up freedom without ever really thinking about it.
I personally believe "cheap and barely works" triumphs over "beautiful and works well" often enough that things will turn out okay.