Message #85

[Ted S]

Today's thought:

Universal - Disappointment Wrapped Up In Good Intentions

When started in my first career as a design engineer an old-timer told me the "engineers" definition of the word universal in response to my declaration that some widget I was designing was going to be a universal design meaning that it would be superior because it would fit many different models.

He chuckled and told me; "Son, as you gain more experience you will find the true meaning of the word universal:"

Meant to fit everything; doesn't fit anything well.

And as I have grown older I have come to realize that he was very wise.  I can't begin to tell you how many universal mounting brackets I've battled over my lifetime trying to get some do-dad to fit nicely.

I no longer do mechanical design but in my current position in the Information Technology world the word has the same hidden meaning.

Case in point; today I had a PC crash during a presentation.  I was hosting a meeting and had people dialed in from around the states.  The web seminar completely crashed and I was forced to continue on via the telephone with no video whatsoever.

On investigation it looks like the culprit is the presentation software itself which is written in Java.  Java is a programming language/environment/platform that is intended to make applications run in a cross-platform (universal) environment.  From the perspective of the web seminar hosting company their Java based software is great because it works on Windows, and Mac, and Linux and whatever. This means that they only have to develop one code base.  From the perspective of the user, it kinda sucks sometimes because it's clunky and not dependable.

I'm also battling two other tech issues where a Java update broke an existing application which is affecting 200 or so users.

In theory, Java, and universal mounting brackets, and universal social programs, and universal things in general, are all good ideas.  In practice however, they often make for an equally disappointing experience.

Something to think about: In my estimation Apple computer enjoys a great reputation and strong customer loyalty because to a large degree they have stayed away from adopting the "universal is good" mindset. Their software cannot run on a multitude of hardware brands, it only runs on their own hardware.  Apple simply doesn't allow nearly the variability into their products that say Microsoft or Google/Android does.  For this they lose some customers but they also gain the type of customer who just wants something that works really well and is dependable even though it might not fill their every desire.