Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading • Hacker News Board

Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading

#41

Post by bitwize » Mon, Jul 18, 2011, 11:49 PM UTC

yuhong wrote: post #35

Anyone remember the non IBM PC compatible NEC PC-98?

Ah, yes. Japan's idiosyncratic, parallel personal computer industry. My how times have changed. Strangely enough, these days when shopping in Nipponbashi I saw Dells everywhere. But outside of Dell and Apple, the big computer vendors are still Japanese or at least Asian. Also, the DIY computer market is big, and largely targeted at the same audience (gamers), but the marketing strategy is different. Since Western style FPS games are unpopular in Japan, video card and motherboard manufacturers use marketing campaigns tied in with home-grown MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV and the like.

Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading

#42

Post by bitwize » Mon, Jul 18, 2011, 11:58 PM UTC

flocial wrote: post #23

kristopher wrote: post #20

There are many interesting aspects about the Japanese arena. One of the most unforgiving is that users do not understand that their phones are connected to vast networks or that navigation system in their car is powered by a computer with memory, et cetera. When I first moved to Japan I asked normal people on the street to tell me what they found interesting about their phones -- I was shocked to learn that many Japa…

I totally agree with you. Another thing reading your comment is that lots of people don't own computers and only use the Internet through phones. This really screws kids out of a chance to mess around with computers. I know a lot people still get their first computers in college, especially women.

That was largely true in the West also until very very recently. One thing that's problematic is that although more people have access to a computer these days, they are treated as access points for MySpace, Facebook, Word and games more than anything else.

When I was growing up a computer was something you programmed just like a television set was something you watched. This was a psychological result of the fact that most machines of the day (including PCs) booted into BASIC if deprived of alternatives. When schools taught computer skills they included some elementary programming (usually in BASIC) in the curriculum. Not so today when majoring in Word and Excel is a perfectly viable academic career path.

So we're screwing our kids out of a chance to mess around with computers also and while the number of people actually using PCs has gone up, they're psychologically more distant from programming than ever it seems, and I'm treated more and more like a superintelligent space alien when I mention I'm a programmer.

Re: Japan's preference for hardware over software is fading

#43

Post by bitwize » Tue, Jul 19, 2011, 12:01 AM UTC

jianshen wrote: post #18

w1ntermute wrote: post #2

One 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've had a very different experience with this. One of my friends from the US was made fun of for carrying around a FlipCam there because all their phones (pre Android/Apple) could already do that and in addition, they could edit their videos right from the phone. They would constantly ask "it JUST takes video?" They saw us Americans as the ones with oversimplified one button gadgets. The Japanese phone mfrs have had…

Sounds like if not for its size, the Japanese would appreciate the Hole Hawg. :)