Progress and balance are two principles of IT development



    Did you get the feeling that the mobile phone you just bought that’s on sale could turn from a fashionable novelty into a pop device in a year, its platform development will be frozen, and a new model will appear in stores, accompanied by marketing slogans about its mythical (maybe real) benefits?

    When buying a new PC, did you ever have to think about whether to take the most powerful video card and save on the processor or, conversely, buy a top-end processor and simpler video cards?

    Reflecting on these and many other examples, I came to the conclusion that almost all the laws of IT development can be summarized in two terms: progress and balance. Let's consider each of these concepts separately.

    Progress in IT has its origins in the development of all mankind, in scientific and technical progress and scientific and technological progress, in steady progress. Scientific discoveries are being made, technologies are being improved, and, as the most striking manifestation, high technologies. More and more transistors fit on a single chip, more and more processors are manufactured, new data centers are being built. Thus, Moore’s law continues to be confirmed.

    Technology is moving so fast that obsolescence is becoming more important than physical. Computers of a decade ago could work just fine, but only the realization that you can buy a machine 100 times more powerful for the same price forces you to abandon your "old friend" (or put him on the balcony and squeeze everything you can out of it, like I did it). Continuous improvement of technology leads to an interesting process: computer products in stores are getting cheaper, despite inflation being replaced by new models. A top-end video card may become cheaper in half a year (with the advent of the new line). We have to rack their brains over which one to buy and at what moment! The same thing happens with software. Examples like Windows 7, Photoshop CS5, Opera 11, I think, will be redundant.

    So what can give knowledge that everything in IT obeys the law of progress for us, ordinary users. It is very important to understand this fact: development occurs as if in steps, in steps. Moreover, each step is not horizontal, but rises slightly. Moving within the paradigm step, we have a small increase in the industry (for example, 10% per year). Then there is a leap that creates a breakthrough in this industry and allows it to get ahead of the rest. Of course, jumps can vary in scale: from the creation of a microprocessor to the technology of AMOLED displays. So, until such a breakthrough has occurred, marketers will try to find inventions where they weren’t there at all, they will talk about a tremendous increase in productivity, new amazingly convenient functions, etc. Your task is to separateThe grain from the chaff marketing is from real technical specifications and to understand whether you really need these "improvements." So when is the best time to make a purchase. In my opinion, once for each step, it is better in the middle. (since the first samples have many bugs, and by the end of development the product is worse supported). But once again I note: do not let marketers impose on you an idea of ​​the "product lines". A 10% increase in productivity does not mean anything. In principle, you can not update the computer at all for 5 years and at the same time save all the features. Of course, this requires some conservatism.

    Let's move on to the second pattern - balance. The meaning of this term is probably better understood by players in MMORPG. If you pump only one stat, the demining mechanism is activated, which gradually reduces the effect of an increase in the value of this stat. In economics, there is a law of diminishing returns on a variable factor, which essentially means the same thing. You cannot grow 10 hectares of wheat in a flower pot, no matter how good the fertilizers and diligent workers are. In IT, this manifests itself, for example, in assembling a balanced PC configuration, downloading a rip from a torrent corresponding to the width of your Internet channel and monitor diagonal, and finally, creating such a game that would be equally good both in gameplay and design. It is important to understand that balancing is carried out within a certain level of technology development.

    So we come to a key point - the relationship between progress and balance. We, like the heroes of MMORPG, are limited by the general level of development and must take into account the general pace of development. But this does not mean that we will not be able to achieve success by combining all the factors in an optimal way so that they give the maximum possible return.

    PS The resulting text is a bit like a stream of consciousness, but I really wanted to make my story useful and at the same time suggestive.

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