Adobe Results

[Simon Garrett]

I wasn't referring to what you said.

Again, not directed at you. It's directed at people with the attitude of "all software should be free" - "Adobe charge too much" - "Adobe rip people off" - "How DARE they make a profit".

My humble apologies for misunderstanding you!

[Colin Southern]

My humble apologies for misunderstanding you!

My apologies for not being clearer

[Mike Buckley]

You say: "there are other basic business factors that reduce the incentive for Adobe to innovate"; would you mind listing some please?

The most important one is fully explained in The Innovator's Dilemma. Once a company develops a technology that becomes the de facto standard, such as Adobe's suite of post-processing software, the economic motivation is to stick with that technology rather than innovate. That partly explains why a disruptive technology almost always comes from a competitor rather than from the company that has the de facto standard.

[Colin Southern]

That partly explains why a disruptive technology almost always comes from a competitor rather than from the company that has the de facto standard.

Windows 8 being the exception!

Reading that book now.

[Mike Buckley]

Windows 8 being the exception!

I don't know much about Windows 8 but what little I do know indicates to me that it is not a disruptive technology.

[Simon Garrett]

The most important one is fully explained in The Innovator's Dilemma. Once a company develops a technology that becomes the de facto standard, such as Adobe's suite of post-processing software, the economic motivation is to stick with that technology rather than innovate. That partly explains why a disruptive technology almost always comes from a competitor rather than from the company that has the de facto standard.

Thanks, that makes sense.

A prime example of step-change innovation coming from outside is my field - telecommunications. The telcos (traditional phone companies) had large research labs busy generating Internet technology, but senior magement and existing circuit-switched product lines hated it. The argument was that the Internet will kill our existing products. "We're not going to to eat our own babies." But if we don't, someone else will. And they did. The same thing happened in telecoms equipment manufacturing: most of the old companies died or suffered badly with the move to IP.

The only old phone companies to survive and prosper were the de facto government-backed monopolies, such as France Telecom, Telefonica (Spain), Deutsche Telekom (Germany).

[Mike Buckley]

"We're not going to to eat our own babies." But if we don't, someone else will. And they did.

That is the innovator's dilemma.

[Colin Southern]

I don't know much about Windows 8 but what little I do know indicates to me that it is not a disruptive technology.

I'm not sure if it should be classified as one or not; in some ways - obviously - it continues existing architectures, but in others, it's radically different (being predominantly gesture driven as opposed to the traditional mouse driven). It's certainly Microsoft's attempt at a paradigm shift in the way we control and interact with PCs.

[ajohnw]

The gestures are for touch screens as per an iPad. They have also added mouse gestures. Some people might find those disruptive after a fashion. I have had them for some time. Periodically I activate one when I don't want to particularly when moving windows about. The worst one for that maximises the window being moved. Another one shows all windows that are open evenly sized on the screen - click on one and it gets the focus at it's original set size others return to where they were, task bar or screen. There are others. My feeling is that if some one wants to work the windows in this sort of fashion keyboard short cuts are much quicker and from memory can do the same things. I've only used them at times in more recent years following a look of disgust from some software people after they have seen me using a mouse. In windows early days I used nothing else and only touched the mouse when there was no other alternative.

John
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[Colin Southern]

The gestures are for touch screens as per an iPad. They have also added mouse gestures. Some people might find those disruptive after a fashion.

Interestingly, I use iPads and iPhones day in and day out -- all seems 2nd nature to me and very intuitive, but as far as Win 8 (and 8.1) goes, I just "butt heads" with it all the time - don't like it at all. Around here we've started calling it "Windows Hate".

[ajohnw]

I find the touch screen types fine. The mouse ones are something else. As I need a new mouse now, the left click double clicks at times, they are even worse.

John
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[Colin Southern]

I find the touch screen types fine. The mouse ones are something else. As I need a new mouse now, the left click double clicks at times, they are even worse.

John
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I find that if it's a screen I'm holding then touch is fine, but if it's a screen on a desk or laptop then "not fine"

[ajohnw]

You have touch screens on those Colin and big helicopters.

With PC's I feel there is a need to for the table like types that we see in the movies. I've always wonder how the people who are viewing them upside down get on. I've only just about have room for a 27in monitor anyway. I can expand that and scroll though any size it seems but I find that adequate. I sometimes do us desktop switching but only 2.

John
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[Colin Southern]

You have touch screens on those Colin and big helicopters.-

No, no touch screens on PCs, but no Win 8 either, so it's not a problem.

I've used PC & laptop touchscreens (client machines), but I don't like them because (a) it means moving my hand between a mouse/touchpad and the screen (which is inefficient), and (b) it means getting fingermarks all over the screen which doesn't help.