(First published in Stuff regional papers and on Stuff.co.nz., January 23.)
I see the technology industry is readying
itself for something called 5G – geek-speak for the fifth generation of
cellular mobile communications.
I can’t wait. I’m jumping out of my skin
with excitement.
I jest, of course. I’m an IT agnostic who
has learned not to trust technology. If the digital revolution has taught us
anything, it’s that supposed innovations and improvements come loaded with
fishhooks and frustrations.
We’re told 5G will provide “high data rate, reduced latency, energy saving, cost reduction, higher system capacity and
massive device connectivity”.
Translated,
I suspect that means there will be incremental gains in terms of speed and
capacity that most everyday users probably won’t even notice. Just like the
people who invested in ultrafast broadband and later wondered why they
bothered.
Oh,
and there will be teething problems. There always are. So
expect a lot of hype when 5G is launched, but expect to be disappointed too,
because the history of the IT industry is littered with false promises.
It’s
an industry that depends heavily on credulous consumers
who are always ready to be sucked in by the illusion of a technological
nirvana. Just witness the queues that form outside Apple retail outlets
whenever a new iPhone is launched.
Improvements on the previous models are
often minimal or largely cosmetic. But there’s a good reason why Apple became
the world’s first trillion-dollar company:
it took the notion of planned obsolescence, which was originally
associated with the car industry, and refined it to the max.
Planned obsolescence means that even as a
new product is launched, the makers already have a better version on the
blocks. Apple’s marketing department knows there are millions of suckers out
there who are willing to believe the latest Apple device represents a quantum
leap over the previous one and that life would be unbearable without it.
The flip side of the Apple story is that
there are legions of users who tear their hair out with Apple products and vow
never to use them again. But where can they go – to Microsoft? It’s probably
the one company with more frustrated users than Apple.
That computer users are effectively at the
mercy of these two grotesquely profitable companies is almost enough to shake
your faith in capitalism. It’s a case of market failure on a massive scale.
Most punters would be happy just to have technology
that works – something that’s consistent, user-friendly and doesn’t let them
down. But IT users have been conditioned to accept a failure rate that wouldn’t
be tolerated in any other industry.
Even when a company delivers something you
actually like, be prepared to have it taken away from you or changed into
something different.
I won’t bore readers again with my story of
how, when I wasn’t looking, Microsoft
uninstalled the only version of Windows that I ever liked and gave me a new one
that I didn’t want and didn’t ask for.
Suffice to say that it was like waking up
one morning to find that the car I’d been driving for years, and which
performed to my satisfaction, had been snatched away and replaced with an
updated model that bore little resemblance to the previous one and drove like a
pig.
More recently, a similar thing happened
with Skype. For years I was a contented Skype user, enjoying face-to-face
conversations with people in the most unlikely places. Then something happened.
Skype suddenly looked and felt different.
The settings were unfamiliar. I couldn’t make it work. Christmas passed without
the usual video conversations with family overseas.
I heard the same complaint from other
users, including Generation X-ers whom I regard as totally tech-savvy. So it
wasn’t just me.
The finger of blame was pointed (surprise!)
at Microsoft, which owns Skype and which (I’m quoting from Wikipedia) “redesigned its Skype clients in a way
that transitioned Skype from peer-to-peer service to a centralised Azure service and adjusted the user interfaces
of apps to make text-based messaging more prominent than voice calling”.
I
think what that means is that Microsoft took a product that worked to people’s
satisfaction and stuffed it up. As it does.
The bigger issue here is that society has
become totally beholden to information technology, with all its failings. Like
it or not, we’re all passengers on a train that’s hurtling at increasing speed
toward an unknown destination. And meanwhile the so-called digital divide,
which separates those who are at ease in this new world from those who can’t
keep up, grows ever wider.
I can think of no other technological revolution
that has so completely penetrated people’s lives or influenced human behaviour,
and I’m less confident than ever that this is a good thing. If that makes me a
Luddite, so be it.
2 comments:
Yes you are definitely a luddite. I am going the same way. Microsoft persuaded the organisation I do most of my work for to convert to Skype for Business, a product that has all the bells and whistles that used to come free with ordinary skype. The 'only' problem is that you can't use it to talk to people with ordinary Skype. But on the 5G issue, the big NZ story may be that the mobile network companies are rolling out commercially a service that purportedly will provide better speeds than that provided by much hyped and government funded fibre based broadband Governments trying to pick winners is always fraught, but in the technology business it is surely madness.
Funny you mention ultra-fast broadband. Comments from people I know who have signed up feel it's no different. As to fibre, Spark is constantly calling me to change over. The only problem is that they have to work out a way to get the fibre to my house as I do not have access to the road via land I own. Talking to Spark I was told that they are asking the government for legislation to overturn private property rights and remove the need for easements and other legal actions required. This will be huge in Auckland given the cross-leased sections, unit titles and houses sharing the same section.
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