John Gruber over at Daring Fireball has another excellent post, this time on the Apple Newton. In considering why the Newton failed, Gruber says this:
I think it’s OK for a 1.0 product to be ahead of its time, to be too ambitious. The trick is not to be too far ahead, and more importantly, for the follow-up products to improve practically.
When it comes to products generally, I wholeheartedly agree with him on this point. If you’re too far ahead, the consumer will never catch up. But when I survey what is happening in legal publishing, I have what Dan Visel says is “the sense of being on the verge of a future that’s dragging its feet.” Our industry (like science, according to Michael Clarke) has not been disrupted, even by Product 1.0. I wonder who among us will the first to be ambitious enough.
[Image (cc) by Visual Media]
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