Is "Good Enough" the Future of Technology?

himitsu writes "In an article titled 'The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine,' Wired claims that the future of technology, warfare and medicine will be filled with 'good enough' solutions; situations where feature-rich and expensive products are replaced with bare-bones infrastructures and solutions. 'We now favor flexibility over high fidelity, convenience over features, quick and dirty over slow and polished. Having it here and now is more important than having it perfect. These changes run so deep and wide, they're actually altering what we mean when we describe a product as "high-quality."'"

Comments

Windows Vista: "Good Enough" is the right answer.

[reporter]

The most well-known example of technology overkill is Windows XP and its successors. Think about it for a minute. How many of the functions in these operating systems do you actually use?

I myself use maybe 10%. There are parts (of Windows Vista) that I have never explored and will never explore. I just do not need all that functionality.

I bet that the majority of non-technical users are just like me. Suppose that Microsoft created a "good enough" operating system called "Windows Minimum" (WM). It has 10% of the functions of Windows Vista and 10% of its size. WM would also likely be 10 times more reliable since it is small and easy to verify to be correct. Best of it, WM would likely be 10% of the price of Windows Vista. $20 is just about right for most people.

my lawn.... get off it

[Mindcontrolled]

My line of work - which is patent law, crucify me - brings me in contact with a lot of mechanical engineers. One complaint I often get to hear from the older ones is that in ye olden days, most people in management were engineers themselves, who had worked up their way through a lifelong career. Those were the days of quality products, of taking pride in the excellence of your work. Now, as MBAs have taken over, we have the days of producing as cheap and sloppy as you can get away with. This may be partially nostalgia-filtered, but I guess it has some reality to it.

Its always been this way

[icebike]

Contrary to popular believe its always been the case that tools and machines were made just good enough.

The definition of "just good enough" depends almost entirely on the cost to manufacturer any given device.

When a given tool is manufactured, its engineered to withstand its expected life span, within the budget available.

If you know you can buy a plow that will last for 20 years for X dollars, and a longer lasting plow for a lot more money, you immediately start thinking about how much cheaper it will be to build the same plow in 5 years, after the new mine is open, and the new forge set up. If its going to be cheaper, you don't bother beefing it up.

Things in the past were built to last their expected life time (or the life of the owner), or the duration for which the device is needed.

Per unit Cost, and per unit lead time to manufacture just about anything has shortened progressively over the centuries.

We don't need the plow, the ship, or the building to last that long any more, and in fact it is detrimental that they do, because that delays progress of new technology. Its easier to recycle it and build next year's model, which will be cheaper.

I don't see anything new here. Its been this way since dirt.

Even my long dead grandfather used to complain "They don't make em like the used to".

Thanks for that.

Re:Windows Vista: "Good Enough" is the right answe

[commodore64_love]

>>>assuming most end-users would get this 'WinMin' OS instead of WinXP/Vista

I'd simply run Win95 or NT 4. Have you ever seen how fast these OSes operate on a modern PC - zoom-zoom! I've never understood why somebody somewhere doesn't take these ancient OSes, add a few extra drivers like USB, and run them. Win NT 4 can run on just 8 megabytes! Imagine how cheaply computers could be made if they only used ~1/500th as much RAM.

Today's modern OSes really and truly are top-heavy monstrosities.