[X4U] "Backwards Compatibility"

[zapcat]

actually, there are many instances where "using 50 cpus" IS the best, 
smartest thing to do.
one example with which you may have familiarity is in the world of 3D 
animation. You may have heard the term "render farm." This springs from 
the basic concept that many working together are more powerful than one 
working alone.

And, that concept is older than dirt. You see it by other names, like: 
"team," "company," "country."

I'd caution you against conflating "innovation" with "new."  
Innovations are often new; not everything new is an innovation.  There 
are scores of applications which are released chock-full of new 
"features," which turn out to be useless and/or buggy, and which were 
favored over fixing bread and butter tools simply because that won't 
sell more software.

I guess the message here is, don't buy the marketing message that 
"buying the latest stuff will make you better," because the truth is: 
"buying the latest stuff will make software/hardware companies richer."

zc



On Jun 18, 2008, at 7:57 AM, Christopher Collins wrote:

> You really don't understand what innovation is, do you Ed?
>
> Innovation isn't using something that someone else has created. Using 
> TCP/IP isn't innovation. Using 50 cpu's isn't innovation.
>
> Innovation is creating that different thing. Innovation is creating 
> that different way of doing something. Innovation is creating a new 
> CPU. Innovation is designing a new networking protocol Innovation is 
> the bleeding edge!
>
> And innovation is always hampered by "backwards compatibility".
>
> My statement still stands.