Do you remember this Compaq Portable Computer? The term ‘portable’ may not have been the best description for the thing. It weighted near 30 pounds. It was a computer in a suit-case. The one in the picture used 5.25″ floppy disk, an had a built in 9″ monitor (’green’ monochrome, not color). The one I frequently lugged around also had a built in hard drive, a powerhouse @ 20M bytes. And the memory – you could expand the memory from 128K to 640K bytes. Oh, and most importantly, a MODEM. Yes, I could ‘connect’ (at about 1200 baud, if I was lucky). Where did I connect to? Maybe a Bulletin Board System (BBS), or to transfer files to a supplier (a novel idea at the time, but we did it frequently in some parts business). I remember connecting to a few large systems to run circuit analysis programs, later connecting to things like CompuServe.
This was the early days of personal computing. Operating these early IBM PC computers was not easy. Most computers of this generation used either MS-DOS (PC clones) or CP/M (Examples: Osborne or KayPro). The Compaq used MD-DOS, a rather difficult operating system to use unless you were a computer geek. It was the poor, difficult to use interface on PC’s that made the early Macintosh such a beautiful machine. Of course, I am not going to get into the history of Apple computers here, although I am a MAC fan and now user:).
Applications? We used Word Perfect and Lotus 1-2-3 – two very popular apps. These two application change the way we did business. The promise of mobility was just an embryo of a thought – or was it? Even prior to the personal computer we were anxious to shrink technology and carry it around with us. I remember my early calculators and how excited I was when I could carry it around in my pocket. And while we are talking about it, how about those early cell phones? My first cell phone was a ‘bag phone‘.
Today I carry my calculator (heck, an entire computer), and the phone in one device – my iPhone. I also carry my Kindle, and frequently carry my Flip Video Recorder (amazing device). If you are going to carry all of this hardware, you also have to take along the various chargers, cables and other accessories. It is a bit excessive:).
I frequently joke about all the hardware, but the fact is that innovation and technology continue to advance. Looking to the future, devices will will continue to shrink as platforms and technology converge. The devices we use to consume ‘content’, to communicate and make more out of life will all ‘merge’ and shrink. And since we are mobile, we want mobile devices. A very exciting promise.
What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts.
Rick (Still hanging out in CA for one more day .. hope I can make it home thought the snow tomorrow).
Photo: wikipedia
As I mentioned in my last entry, I am attending the NAFEM Annual Meeting and Management Workshop in Somona, California this weekend. Saturday morning’s first session was outstanding. The speaker was Peter Sheahan. Peter is a dynamic, passionate speaker with insight beyond his years. He was captivating, and motivating. I walked away with many notes and a head full of ideas. The difficulty in attending this type of presentation, where the speaker is so captivating, is that I cannot capture everything. Peter was so ineteresting that I could not pick up my pen.
I want to comment on one line that he used during his presenation. I am going to read his book latest book, “Fl!P. How to Turn Everything You Know on its Head – and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings“. I’ll reserve further comment until I finish the book.
Speaking of innovation in business, Peter said that, “Crowds don’t innovate. Someone has to lead the crowd.” Think about that … I’ll get back to in in a minute …
The word “crowdsourcing” was coined by Jeff Howe in a 2006 article in Wired Magazine. He followed that with his book, “Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business“. If you have not read the book, you may want to read a summary by Peter Korchnak. An excerpt from his comments:
According to the crowdsourced Wikipedia, crowdsourcing is the “act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor and outsourcing [them] to a group of people or community”.
Thanks to the Internet, crowdsourcing democratizes knowledge by flattening the hierarchy of the expertise-based economy: everyone has expertise that businesses can tap into. Crowdsourcing allows companies to harness the collective intelligence of large numbers of diverse individuals making autonomous decisions in online communities self-organized into workforces.
In short, crowdsourcing is a perfect expression of the Japanese proverb, “None of us is as smart as all of us”.
The books gives a few good examples of crowdsourcing. My purpose here is not to recite or summarize the book. Buy the book and read it.
Back to Peter’s comments about crowds and innovation. I tend to agree with him. I have seen many time when the crowd was not capable of understanding or even conceiving the innovation. They could not see outside the box of current thinking. I believe crowds still have a place. I think they can be used effectively but you have to understand that pleasing the crowd may block an opportunity for true, groundbreaking innovation.
By the way, another book, which I have not read, is “The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Surowiecki. I read a summery of his book where I found what he suggest are the four ‘key qualities that make a crowd smart’ (this is a quote from the review):
- It needs to be diverse, so that people are bringing different pieces of information to the table.
- It needs to be decentralized, so that no one at the top is dictating the crowd’s answer.
- It needs a way of summarizing people’s opinions into one collective verdict.
- And the people in the crowd need to be independent, so that they pay attention mostly to their own information, and not worrying about what everyone around them thinks.
I am not sure how to rationalize these comments. I will withhold comment until I can read this book.
What do you think about crowdsouring? Comments welcome!
Rick
