The problems PDAs and mobile phones suffer are comparable to the mess of incompatibility and complexity that plagued desktop computing in the 80’s. The problems aren’t all the same, but they similarly act to limit the usability and potential of consumer electronics. Read More… Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
Newton Lessons for Apple’s New Platform
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/600D65E6-A31E-45CA-AFC5-42BC253F5337.html
Apple is building a new platform, and applying lessons it learned from the 90s, when tried to launch the Newton as a new platform. Like the original Macintosh from a decade prior, the Newton started as one product, and intended to branch out into a range of systems. Here’s why it failed and the lessons to be learned.
After reliance on isolationist development using proprietary technologies, the second factor of platform crisis involves embracing the suffocating tentacles of long term legacy support. Here’s how legacy plays into the past, present, and future plans of Apple and Microsoft, and what it means for users of their products. Read More… Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
How Apple and Microsoft have both used and fallen prey to four factors of software development disaster in the past and today. Read More… Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM
After Hitting the Wall in Mac System 7 development, Apple desperately needed a plan for the future. The isolationist, proprietary development style that had formerly differentiated Apple’s products now stood in the way of the company’s very survival. The same situation applies to Microsoft today. Read More… Contributed by: Daniel Eran, RDM