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by tonymet 503 days ago
Transportation has a higher demand for reliability and maintainability than our entertainment devices.

Not every "innovation" is positive. A 2% efficiency gain with 300% maintenance cost and 25% lifespan is a major loss.

Let's act like responsible engineers here and remember what our job is. We are supposed to be creating tools with longevity & utility that improve welfare. We are not here to create toys and infotainment for people.

The tools are in our hands people. Quit placing blame on marketing, customers. Take responsibility for the control that you wield.

1 comments

> We are supposed to be creating tools with longevity & utility that improve welfare. We are not here to create toys and infotainment for people.

The same can be said for b2b SaaS (which is where I work), and yet...

For some reason we've lost the core concept of what makes a tool good. I think there are a few components (not an exhaustive list):

1. When you are using a tool it disappears. You don't know you're using it.

2. It grows with you and doesn't infantilize you. As you get more skilled it gets more useful, not more limiting.

3. It never changes.

Giving the computer nerds the ability to change and tweak tools while they're in the customer's hand has yielded disastrous consequences. Now everything is a subscription and users are treated like idiots.

I really appreciate your thoughts on this. Tools are key engagement with the world. A good tool is empowering , and a poor tool is demoralizing. I'm glad there are others pondering this issue.