[REBOL] Re: Why I Blast Email
From: ed:brittlestar at: 11-Jul-2003 19:27
quickly
is a very relative term...
>>They moved *to* email quickly
Didn't it take roughly 5 or 6 years ('90 - '96) before email really took off
in the mainstream (corp. & personal use)?
It has taken longer than that to move from VHS to DVD as the dominant format
in the US, and that took a lot of pushing.
>> I think they can move *from* it quickly.
With communication enablers, I think it's often harder to switch than it is
to adopt. As with most technologies-- programming languages included-- in
order for the masses to switch, the benefits must substantially exceed the
cost/pain of migration. It's a really high bar of perception that must be
cleared.
Usually what happens instead is the new technology encompasses most of the
basic needs/features of the legacy technology (often in the form of
bloat
). This enables users, who really don't care a whit about bloat, to
be more easily persuaded.
The common story is: Start-up company go to market with next-generation
great idea, let's say... "video email over the surplus digital TV spectrum."
The big corporations let this upstart blaze the trail, found the market. If
it takes off, the big corps cherry-pick the best ideas from the start-up and
incorporate them as "features" in the next major release of their own
software.
I definitely wouldn't bet on email disappearing for a long time. Sure, I can
see it evolving though.
// Ed O'Connor
- who's just woken from a long REBOL slumber
The early bird gets the worm, but the _second_ rat gets the cheese.
