First the 50 Best, Now 21 Flops
Computerworld has posted their list of 21 of the "biggest" technology flops, which wasn't quite the fun memoryfest that the PC World 50 best list was. Couple reasons. First, some of the products labeled as flops were anything but in the sense that they were just simply ahead of their time. The Newton paved the way for PDAs, so-called smart phones, and handwriting recognition in general. Hell, even something like DIVX, the horrible, horrible DVD "alternative," was one of the first attempts at distributing DRM on a mass scale. When an actual product failed, but its influences can still be felt, that doesn't seem like a flop.
Second, some weren't even flops at all. DAT, for example, did fail miserably a consumer format, but it was fairly entrenched in professional audio production at least through the late 90s. And push technology is not only around, it's thriving (its descendants, such as RSS and Ajax, are mentioned in the article).
I'd define a flop as a product that was not only released to massive disinterest or disdain, but also is something not even worth following up on. In other words, a flop is a solution in search of a problem, and one that doesn't even have the novelty factor to drive public interest on any appreciable scale. See: CueCat. They couldn't even give those things away, though, in hindsight, I wish I hadn't trashed mine immediately after trying it myself.
The piece does list several that fit my definition, most notably Microsoft Bob. I had the displeasure of actually attempting to use that steaming pile (my boss at the time had me check it out as an example of a virtual interface), and it was every bit as bad as you've heard.
Interesting (to me, anyway) side note on DIVX: I thought it weird at the time when the Circuit City "salesman" in the DIVX TV spots turned out to be the local ABC news anchor in Richmond, VA. Nowadays we all pretty much take for granted that the lines between news, entertainment, and advertising are blurred beyond all recognition, but seeing a purported television journalist hawking pseudo-DVD players definitely struck me as strange back in 1999.
Posted at 08:47AM Apr 05, 2007 by Kevin Schmitt in Random | Comments[0]
