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From: karsh@trifolium.esd.sgi.com (Bruce Karsh)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Patents and Architecture
Message-ID: <63035@sgi.sgi.com>
Date: 28 Jun 90 09:31:34 GMT
References: <62864@sgi.sgi.com> <38440@think.Think.COM> <62960@sgi.sgi.com> <05A4JU1@xds13.ferranti.com>
Sender: news@sgi.sgi.com
Reply-To: karsh@trifolium.sgi.com (Bruce Karsh)
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc., Mountain View, CA
Lines: 61

In article <05A4JU1@xds13.ferranti.com> peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes:
>In case you haven't noticed, the car market is incredibly standardised.

Yeah, a Volkswagen Beetle is just like a Mercedes Benz.

The car market isn't very standardized at all.  Perhaps you mean that the
driver interface is standardized?  Well let's see:

    o	The key goes in on either the dashboard or the steering column.
    o	The turn signal is on either the left or the right.
    o	The steering column is on either the left or the right.  (Standards
	apply on a per-country basis except for mail-carriers.
    o	There are either 2 or 3 motion control pedals.
    o	There are a variety of gear shift patterns.
    o   The speedometers are moving needle, digital readouts, or heads-up
	displays.
    o   The bright lights are either on the dashboard or on the steering
	column or on yet another floor pedal.
    o   The emergency brakes are either beside the driver's seat or on yet
	another floor pedal.
    o	The transmission is on the steering column or beside the driver's seat
	or on the dashboard.
    o   The shift patterns come in an endless variety.
    o	The horn button is on the center of the steering wheel, on the axis
	of the steering column on an additional concentric ring inside the
	steering wheel or on pressure sensitive pads along the inner edge of
	the steering wheel.
    o   The headlights are on the dashboard to the left or the right of the
	steering column or on the turn signal handle.
    o	The safety belts are on the door, on the floor, or on a mechanical
	motor driven gizmo which puts the shoulder belt on automatically.

These are examples of the lack of standardization of the safety related
components of an automobile.  This has not detered drivers from switching
freely between various models of autos.

In the same way, computer architectures need not be standardized.  Users
don't need every display to be identical among their computers, they need 
for practically every display to be understandable.

Since that's hard to do, many software designers have instead concluded that
identical-ness is the panacea for the usability problem.  The auto is a
good example of why this is not so.  Customers don't like identical-ness, they
like new and improved things.  If auto makers all made exactly the same
interfaces, most would be put out of business by the few who did new things.
If computer designers stop making new and improved interfaces, they'll be
put out of business by designers who will innovate.

So let's innovate.  Let's give users a choice.  Lets put the tired old
non-inovative companies out of business.

>Your position seems to be that Ford and GM shouldn't have the steering wheel
>on the same side, and Chrysler should put the driver in the back seat.

Ford, GM, and Chrysler all have models with the steering wheel on either
side.  Should all cars have identical steering wheels.  Should granny's car
and a low-rider's car both have the same steering wheel?  Granny wont like
it and neither will the low-rider.

			Bruce Karsh
			karsh@sgi.com