[est31]

> The conservative choice is to go with the herd.

That's not conservative. Being conservative means that you only follow a change if it makes sense. If you adopt some new technology, you should do it because it convinces you that it's better, not because it's new, wasn't available before, everyone else is doing it, or any other such reason. If you are conservative, you don't neccessarily end up doing what the majority is doing, as most times, the majority is following some empty hype.

That's because his use of that word is wrong: everything said in that article contradicts that statement.

[ksdale]

I think your definition of conservative is correct, but it assumes the thing you’re trying to conserve is something like energy spent on new/different approaches. I think pg’s definition of conservative in this case assumes the thing being conserved is something like prestige or credibility.

As an aside, in my experience it’s a fairly common usage to describe any behavior that avoids risk along some dimension, which could very well mean going with the herd, if you’re trying to conserve social status.