Frank,
Your reply itself is an interesting one. It is good; but it does raise some
new questions from a policy standpoint as well as from a manufacturing
standpoint. Taking the easy question first - e.g., the manufacturing
question.
Given that research, design, development, and manufacturing does not take
place over the relatively short periods of a month, 6 months, or even a year
but typically take several years and given that Epson, in particular but
others as well, appear to come out with new relatively innovative models
every 6-12 months, one has to wonder if this pace causes manufacturers like
Epson to commit to the production and distribution before they can really
test the new products and make changes in them if flaws are found during the
research, design, development, and manufacturing stages of the process or to
commit to the distribution of a known flawed product because they already
have so much invested in its development and need to have a new model to
introduce to the public or the public will think that the company is
non-competitive due to the companies reinforcement of the notion that a new
bigger and better improved model will be forthcoming every 6-12 months. In
short, the race to get new models with new technological features and
improvements out to the public may be the sort of rush to judgment that
causes the consumer to become the beta testers for the company, which in
turn may cause bad feelings toward the company similar to what Microsoft is
experiencing and to what Epson has experienced as a result of the orange
fade issue surrounding the 1270/870 printer and the Premium Glossy Photo
Paper.
>From a public policy perspective, the policy question becomes should the
world and countries within it, as well as the people who populate the world,
accept, support, and further the continued enhancement and exasperation of a
policy which perpetuates wastage of natural resources for minimal advances
or gain just for the sake of private profits and competition. This is not
to say that profit and competition should be done away with altogether; but
it is to say that maybe it should be made to be less of the motivating
factor behind the decisions and actions of private companies. I realize
that this is an age old question around which wars have been fought; but the
recent increased pace of technological development has resulted in a lot of
unanticipated consequences that cause the question to come to the fore
again.
Namely, as a by-product of rapid technological advances, many new and
unproven products are introduced into the market under the cloak of
promotional and advertising hype that are not ready to be introduced or
offer enough innovation and usefulness to be worthy of being introduced.
This is not only wasteful of the world's natural resources; it contributes
to the world's non-recyclable wastes products that make their way to the
garbage heaps and junkyards. This goes for nonfunctional, dysfunctional, and
still functional but unfashionable products. Another by-product of this
rush to compete in the technological race is that it causes the unintended
consequences which come from arms races, where all the participants are so
concerned with one-ups-manship that one winds up with each participant
producing 10 models of the same basic design but different names and claims
which are all obsolete before they even go into production rather than
producing 10 distinctively different, innovative and unique, models which do
different things and offer really beneficial features. A third unintended
consequence of the mythology that underlies the increased pace of
technological development is the believe in phantom development and
technological advances. I would suggest that much of what is held out as
technological advances are merely marketing advances or hype (i.e., the "new
and improved version") with actual technological advances and developments
moving at a much slower pace than the promoters would have the public think.
A net result is that we get fictitious entities
( e.g., corporations) issuing stock whose value is based on non-existent
phantom products and vaporware services that exist on paper and in the minds
of the participants only - i.e., the technology stock Dot Coms).
End of rant.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
[mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Frank Paris
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 10:57 AM
To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
Subject: RE: filmscanners: SS4000 and LS-2000 real value?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> [mailto:owner-filmscanners@halftone.co.uk]On Behalf Of Derek Clarke
> Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2001 4:15 AM
> To: filmscanners@halftone.co.uk
> Subject: RE: filmscanners: SS4000 and LS-2000 real value?
>
> Does anyone else think that Epson are producing new printers too
> fast now?
Hmmm. That's an interesting question, but what does it mean? Too fast for
what? Too fast for Epson to get their act together and produce something
reliable? Too fast for the consumer who can't afford to keep up with the
latest technology? Does the semi-conductor industry produce faster
processors too fast? Even better, does the video card industry produce video
cards too fast? They seem to double in speed every six months. Is life too
fast these days? I think the answer is simple. Life is competitive, and
manufacturers have to keep on top of the technology curve if they are to
remain competitive, hence profitable, hence alive. New Epson printers come
out at the pace they do because the technology is growing at that pace
throughout the industry. It won't stop until technology hits a wall, then
everyone will have perfect printers for free and only one or two printer
manufacturers will exist. I suspect that's a ways off, so the pace will
continue frantic for a while yet. Meanwhile, Epson printers are good enough
to produce amazing results right now, regardless of all the Epson bashing
that seems so fashionable, here and elsewhere. So get one now and enjoy.
Then in five years when it breaks, get another one, and meanwhile don't
worry about the pace of technology. Sounds like everyone is wringing their
hands over the way life works these days. It will only get "worse" (or
better, depending on your attitude), so relax and enjoy the show, dipping
into it as the pocketbook can afford, but not lamenting that things are
going too fast for us.
Frank Paris
marshalt@spiritone.com
