Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
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Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#2One of the things that really shocked me is how everyone still carries around electronic dictionaries when their cell phones should be able to fulfill that capability. The idea of one-function hardware is still deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche in a way that it hasn't been for years in the West. As an American I always find it preferable to consolidate all my devices into one (which has turned out to be the cell phone), but the Japanese still like to carry around separate devices for each task.
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#3As far as I recall, Japan's Fifth Generation program, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_generation_computer, which had the West running around in a panic, was primarily software driven. It was seen as an attempt the break the European and American dominance of software and microprocessors but was unsuccessful. It is interesting that many of the companies mentioned in the article are small rather than the usual set of behemoths. Perhaps this time with the disruption in Japanese society with life-time employment at large corporations no longer a sure thing and with the rise of China that there is enough fear/desire in Japan to make it work.
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#4One of the things that really shocked me is how everyone still carries around electronic dictionaries when their cell phones should be able to fulfill that capability. The idea of one-function hardware is still deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche in a way that it hasn't been for years in the West. As an American I always find it preferable to consolidate all my devices into one (which has turned out to be the cel…
As much as i'd like to have a universal device sometimes a well-crafted, well-designed, dedicated device is hard to give up once you are used to it.
Would you rather use a TI-calc emulator on android or the actual device?
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#5The hard line between hardware and software is also fading in my opinion. I mean hardware is mostly also software in a sense. The difference between 'hardware' and 'software' is smaller nowadays than the difference between 'business software' and 'low-level software' I think.
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#6One of the things that really shocked me is how everyone still carries around electronic dictionaries when their cell phones should be able to fulfill that capability. The idea of one-function hardware is still deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche in a way that it hasn't been for years in the West. As an American I always find it preferable to consolidate all my devices into one (which has turned out to be the cel…
As much as i'd like to have a universal device sometimes a well-crafted, well-designed, dedicated device is hard to give up once you are used to it. Would you rather use a TI-calc emulator on android or the actual device?
The emulator, hands down. And that's being a long-time TI calculator user.
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
As much as i'd like to have a universal device sometimes a well-crafted, well-designed, dedicated device is hard to give up once you are used to it. Would you rather use a TI-calc emulator on android or the actual device?
The emulator, hands down. And that's being a long-time TI calculator user.
I am probably two orders of magnitude faster[1] on a real TI than on an emulator. The muscle memory there is deep, and doesn't translate to my phone at all.
[1]no, really
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#8One of the things that really shocked me is how everyone still carries around electronic dictionaries when their cell phones should be able to fulfill that capability. The idea of one-function hardware is still deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche in a way that it hasn't been for years in the West. As an American I always find it preferable to consolidate all my devices into one (which has turned out to be the cel…
As much as i'd like to have a universal device sometimes a well-crafted, well-designed, dedicated device is hard to give up once you are used to it. Would you rather use a TI-calc emulator on android or the actual device?
95-99% of the time, I'd actually prefer the built in android calculator, because the buttons are bigger and I'm only doing simple arithmetic. I'm perfectly willing to sacrifice the remaining times in exchange for not having to carry another thing.
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#9One of the things that really shocked me is how everyone still carries around electronic dictionaries when their cell phones should be able to fulfill that capability. The idea of one-function hardware is still deeply ingrained in the Japanese psyche in a way that it hasn't been for years in the West. As an American I always find it preferable to consolidate all my devices into one (which has turned out to be the cel…
I don't think it's a preference for dedicated devices in that instance - the electronic dictionaries are just better than most cell phones for that purpose. Most people haven't switched over to smart phones, so the screens are small, and the English alphabet doesn't map all that well to a cell phone keypad (compared to a QWERTY keyboard, or Hiragana on a cell phone keypad). Newer electronic dictionaries also have a stylus and do handwriting recognition. On the other hand, the Nintendo DS electronic dictionary is pretty good, and much cheaper than an equally functional 電子辞書.
Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading
#10The hard line between hardware and software is also fading in my opinion. I mean hardware is mostly also software in a sense. The difference between 'hardware' and 'software' is smaller nowadays than the difference between 'business software' and 'low-level software' I think.
>I mean hardware is mostly also software in a sense
Sure, in a theoretical sense, hardware is software frozen in silicon, sometimes even analog silicon. However, the economics of software and hardware businesses couldn't be more different, and that's the point of the article.
Furthermore, low-level software is probably to be tied to the hardware biz from an economics standpoint.