Why is OpenInkpot so much more stable than all the other firmwares? - Page 2

fjtorres · 07-12-2009, 08:35 AM

Sure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informix_Wingz

Basically, Wingz was once, for a short-time, the best spreadsheet on the planet.
So proud of their work were the developers, that they decided to port it to every Unix platform on the planet, *indiscriminately*. (Word Perfect did the same thing but they were big enough to be able to do both--infinite ports and update the mainstream releases.)

So, while their competitors were coding improvements to their products, Informix was busy porting. And porting. And porting. They ended up with a product that ran everywhere, including platforms nobody used anymore, but was no longer the best anywhere.

Think of it as an object lesson in thinking a software project is "complete" or "finished" and losing sight of where the market is going. Context matters.

Doesn't seem a risk for OI--your roadmap looks rational--but given the current state of the ereader business the port-everywhere trap is a faint possibility; there are going to be dozens of new ereader gadgets showing up in the next year or so and the turnover in platforms is going to be fierce. Some products that look like viable targets one day are going to be irrelevant a few months later, even products built off excellent hardware or from big name vendors. Think of the PC business in the mid 80's or the MP3 player business in the late 90's; a Darwinian explosion of "100 vendors each looking to get 5% of the market".

Long story short: if the industry goes as I expect there will be a strong tempation to be everywhere and your resource allocation skills are likely going to be tested.

But since that appears to be well in hand...

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07-12-2009, 08:35 AM	#16
fjtorres Grand Sorcerer Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000	Sure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informix_Wingz Basically, Wingz was once, for a short-time, the best spreadsheet on the planet. So proud of their work were the developers, that they decided to port it to every Unix platform on the planet, indiscriminately. (Word Perfect did the same thing but they were big enough to be able to do both--infinite ports and update the mainstream releases.) So, while their competitors were coding improvements to their products, Informix was busy porting. And porting. And porting. They ended up with a product that ran everywhere, including platforms nobody used anymore, but was no longer the best anywhere. Think of it as an object lesson in thinking a software project is "complete" or "finished" and losing sight of where the market is going. Context matters. Doesn't seem a risk for OI--your roadmap looks rational--but given the current state of the ereader business the port-everywhere trap is a faint possibility; there are going to be dozens of new ereader gadgets showing up in the next year or so and the turnover in platforms is going to be fierce. Some products that look like viable targets one day are going to be irrelevant a few months later, even products built off excellent hardware or from big name vendors. Think of the PC business in the mid 80's or the MP3 player business in the late 90's; a Darwinian explosion of "100 vendors each looking to get 5% of the market". Long story short: if the industry goes as I expect there will be a strong tempation to be everywhere and your resource allocation skills are likely going to be tested. But since that appears to be well in hand...