Is more less?

Windows XP is more integrated. It builds in it a browser, e-mail client,

digital photo editor, instant messenger and more. The Pentium 4 has a great

number of new features. Now there’s a new type of integration happening. Your

TV and computer are going to merge. Will that mean changing your TV set, or

computer, or both? And what happens if the mobile and palm pilot become unified?

Or if the cameras decide to join in?

All this integration and convergence leaves a sense of disquiet along with

the elation of having new goodies all the time. Why? After all, you are getting

more and more for the same amount of money–or even for less.

To start with, not all new products have features suited to you. For

instance, you could for use the mobile ‘palm’ camera (Mopcam) at a party.

You could take pictures of all those you meet, add a name to them and store it

on the mega-storage memory. And it would be very handy when you meet the person

again–and have forgotten the name. You could re-focus the Mopcam on him from a

distance and the photo matching software could scan the images in the address

book and flash the name of the "friend". But you would have to work

hard to feel good about this application. So, a nagging thought persists–would

it not be good if you have a few features less?

Along with this, product lifecycles are becoming shorter. When you have the

Mopcam, what would you do with the mobile, palmtop and camera that are still

working fine? Not to mention that your hands have got used to them. You could

gift them away, you say? What happened to the good old days when one could buy

an electronic device, use it for a decade and then sell it at a little above

what it was purchased for?

The pricing models that are adopted for new products are like an inverted

hockey stick. You start at the top. Keep it constant for time and then drop in

an almost vertical line. That also coincides with the disappearance of support

and coverage about the product in the media (except, of course, on dated

websites). Obviously, the market is milked and then everything is done to

encourage you to move up the product chain. The trouble is that not everyone is

comfortable with this throwaway culture. It only suits those who are

technologically mobile–upwards.

The entry level for products just keeps going up. For instance, the under-Rs

10,000 PC was a dream a few years back. It still is–even when component prices

are supposed to have gone down. Yet, it remains the right price point for, say a

simple shopkeeper who just wants to do his accounting on a machine. He has no

time or inclination for more useful apps. Maybe he’ll grow into them after he

is broken into the system. Or there could be a no-frills mobile-user who would

be perfectly happy with a device for Rs 999. What is the choice for him? Isn’t

more less?

Obviously, there is a flipside to technological progress. The bloat also

increases. Upgrades have to be paid for. And many features remain

under-utilized. At one level, there’s more and more choice, and at another,

there is less and less of it. If your need is only word processing, it isn’t

possible for you to buy only a word processor. You will get a system that can do

a lot more than that–whether you like it or not, or want it or not. It’s

like having to buy a plane, a tank, a car and a boat when a bicycle would have

been just as fine. Yes, the plane plus tank plus car plus boat package is not

overwhelmingly expensive as compared to the bicycle.

So what are the answers? There are only two–stop worrying about throwing

away electronic items, and while you have them, try and increase the usage so

that you get the maximum. In other words, treat all electronic goods as

consumables. Buy, use, dispose–or if you cannot do that, destroy. Thankfully,

hammers have not gone obsolete so far. Very soon, they might. Electronic goods

will come with self-destruct mechanisms programmed to disintegrate in a maximum

of two years–in an eco-friendly manner. Or they would be stamped–"Not

to be used after dd/mm/yy." In the meantime, if you have any electronic

stuff sitting on a shelf somewhere, pull it out. Today, you may not have to pay

someone for taking it away. Tomorrow, you’ll have to.

The author is Editor-in-chief, Cyber Media shyamm@cmil.com