There’s an article in The Times today from James Dyson: Make Things For The Real World, Not The Web. Unfortunately The Times is a pay site so unless you’re a subscriber you won’t be able to read it, or a luddite like me and you read the paper version, I still much prefer reading on paper.
The article opens with the following:
Though I use Google every day (I confess I am not on Facebook), I believe the next revolution of industry will be in the real world: tangible. Steve Jobs had it right: you want to be able to lick new technology, not just “like” it. But there is a risk that the development of tangible technologies is being overlooked in favour of fashionable web development.
Further into the article James Dyson talks of how Caterpillar, who make tangible items, are a far bigger company than Facebook. This is undoubtedly true, but I disagree with some of James Dyson’s premise. This is of course a quandary for me as James Dyson is a man of invention whom I admire greatly, I even have a Dyson vacuum cleaner and a bloody good product it is. However I feel the world is turning and whereas the really big companies will be making tangible goods, opportunity is knocking for those making digital goods and products for the web.
For someone who wants to try and earn income from home, horizons are broadening, from self publishing, singing in venues like Second Life, peddling your art in venues like Second Life, making textures for usage in venues such as Second Life …. you might notice a common denominator here but in reality, opportunities are knocking for far wider a platform than Second Life and this requires people to be producing software, widgets, add-ons and digital solutions.
I don’t agree with James Dyson that tangible technologies are being overlooked, but I do agree with him when he sys that web development is fashionable, but it simply has to be fashionable because it’s a low cost industry to get started in, you don’t need tens of thousands of pounds to get off the ground with web or or digital development, you can start from a much more humble origin and build upon that.
Web development has of course got more professional over time and there is a fair amount of available funding for the right product, but it also gives people the opportunity to empower themselves in ways that developing tangible goods simply does not.
What most of us can do in Second Life could be trumped if a large developer came along with professional tools in terms of content creation, but the margins are small in Second Life, so the big professionals cast an eye on it then move on to their next mega blockbuster. However those small margins can be massively rewarding for a small business owner, who can, albeit temporarily, thrive if they hit upon the right idea, breedables continue to prosper from what I can see.
Digital and web development should compliment tangible products in many ways, if James Dyson’s concern is that people will stop investing in science and development of tangible goods, then I feel he’s far wide of the mark. However the reason why software development is trendy, is because, as I said earlier, it’s relatively low cost these days and whereas I agree with James Dyson that web development should not come at the expense of tangible goods, the costs of producing tangible goods are seeing a shift in where those tangible goods are produced, leaving others to embrace web and digital development in order to prosper so they can continue to purchase those tangible goods.
Web development should continue and people should be investing in it, but that development certainly doesn’t mean tangible goods are going to be forgotten.