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LOL! 4 Way Stops and Taking Your Life into your Own Hands
Not in Ohio = especially in the suburban bliss of NE Ohio. A 4 way stop there is like the early days of 8 Bit OSes and PCs - a total free for all. 
You might be surprised at how much of this I agree with you about. In fact, I use the analogy to historical patterns of PC OS emergence as a guidepost on how modern smart-device evolution is shaping up on a regular basis.
In that analogy I frequently mention that Android reminds me of nothing from that era more than the Commodore Amiga platform - a really great platform that has a ton of potential but is a little rougher than the competition in some key areas and kind of headed down its own path that is fundamentally different than the direction everyone else seems to be taking. I've bought into the dead end before because I thought the advantages were clearly superior to the disadvantages, and lost on that bet. The Amiga lasted me from the AT era well into the era of the 386DX, and was still popular and dominant in certain niche industries for a long time after that - but eventually Intel Architecture found a balance of power and price and Microsoft Windows delivered an OS platform that offered a balance of ease of use and power that made the other platforms irrelevant.
But my crystal ball is just too hazy right now on how things are shaping up this time around. I have my ideas, concerns and questions - but I'm not ready to weigh in professionally on how I think the dust will settle. I think it is anyone's game. At one point, an Intel based PC was simply not a consideration outside of business. They were too expensive and too limited in gaming and other leisure activities up until well into the 286/AT era. While the Amiga and Atari ST were delivering 4096 color graphics - EGA was the height of consumer oriented PC graphics. It wasn't until 32 bit 386 IA architecture and affordable VGA graphics (and Windows) that the PC market exploded. I can even remember the first killer app that drove this... it was Wing Commander (followed shortly thereafter by Wolfenstein 3D). Suddenly, consumers were much more interested in IA PC technology, and Amiga and Atari and all the other contenders were dead within a year or two.
Something could change that radically, that rapidly, right now or at some point in the near future.
But what I see of Windows Phone doesn't follow the classic model which I believe was instrumental of the "WinTel" victory back in the past. Intel DIY clones and Windows were relatively open and overwhelmed by market saturation. Today, Android most closely resembles that market - whereas Windows is taking a more Apple approach where they have things locked down much tighter. The Windows phone is more like IBMs classic line of PS/2 PC compatibles. That niche didn't work for IBM very well then - I'm not sure it is a market model that will do well for Microsoft with Windows Phone now.
You might be surprised at how much of this I agree with you about. In fact, I use the analogy to historical patterns of PC OS emergence as a guidepost on how modern smart-device evolution is shaping up on a regular basis.
In that analogy I frequently mention that Android reminds me of nothing from that era more than the Commodore Amiga platform - a really great platform that has a ton of potential but is a little rougher than the competition in some key areas and kind of headed down its own path that is fundamentally different than the direction everyone else seems to be taking. I've bought into the dead end before because I thought the advantages were clearly superior to the disadvantages, and lost on that bet. The Amiga lasted me from the AT era well into the era of the 386DX, and was still popular and dominant in certain niche industries for a long time after that - but eventually Intel Architecture found a balance of power and price and Microsoft Windows delivered an OS platform that offered a balance of ease of use and power that made the other platforms irrelevant.
But my crystal ball is just too hazy right now on how things are shaping up this time around. I have my ideas, concerns and questions - but I'm not ready to weigh in professionally on how I think the dust will settle. I think it is anyone's game. At one point, an Intel based PC was simply not a consideration outside of business. They were too expensive and too limited in gaming and other leisure activities up until well into the 286/AT era. While the Amiga and Atari ST were delivering 4096 color graphics - EGA was the height of consumer oriented PC graphics. It wasn't until 32 bit 386 IA architecture and affordable VGA graphics (and Windows) that the PC market exploded. I can even remember the first killer app that drove this... it was Wing Commander (followed shortly thereafter by Wolfenstein 3D). Suddenly, consumers were much more interested in IA PC technology, and Amiga and Atari and all the other contenders were dead within a year or two.
Something could change that radically, that rapidly, right now or at some point in the near future.
But what I see of Windows Phone doesn't follow the classic model which I believe was instrumental of the "WinTel" victory back in the past. Intel DIY clones and Windows were relatively open and overwhelmed by market saturation. Today, Android most closely resembles that market - whereas Windows is taking a more Apple approach where they have things locked down much tighter. The Windows phone is more like IBMs classic line of PS/2 PC compatibles. That niche didn't work for IBM very well then - I'm not sure it is a market model that will do well for Microsoft with Windows Phone now.
Contributr Posted by dcolbert@...
26th Mar 2012
