{"id":1078,"date":"2016-11-02T15:56:23","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T12:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/?p=1078"},"modified":"2017-07-14T21:09:00","modified_gmt":"2017-07-14T18:09:00","slug":"hardware-is-sexy-but-its-software-that-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/hardware-is-sexy-but-its-software-that-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Hardware is sexy, but it&#8217;s software that matters&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1079\" src=\"http:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Dolphins_Training-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"dolphins_group_blog\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Dolphins_Training-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Dolphins_Training.jpg 448w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>You can make software if you choose to.<\/p>\n<p>Not just the expected version of software that runs on a computer, but the metaphorical idea of rules and algorithms designed to solve problems and connect people&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Apple started as a hardware company with the Apple II. Soon in, they realized that while hardware is required, it&#8217;s software that changes the world.<\/p>\n<p>For years, the Mac was merely a container for Mac software. It was the software that enabled the work we created, it was software that shifted our relationship with computers and ultimately each other.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Over the last five years, Apple has lost the thread and chosen to become a hardware company again. Despite their huge profits and large staff, we&#8217;re confronted with (a partial list):<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> &#8211;<\/strong> Automator, a buggy piece of software with no support, and because it&#8217;s free, no competitors.<br \/>\n<strong> &#8211;<\/strong>Keynote, a presentation program that hasn&#8217;t been improved in years.<br \/>\n<strong> &#8211;<\/strong> IOS 10, which replaces useful with pretty.<br \/>\n<strong> &#8211;<\/strong> iTunes, which is now years behind useful tools like Roon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>No significant steps forward in word processing, spreadsheets, video editing, file sharing, internet tools, conferencing, etc. Apple contributed mightily to a software revolution a decade ago, but they&#8217;ve stopped. Think about how many leaps forward Slack, Dropbox, Zapier and others have made in popular software over the last few decades. But it requires a significant commitment to keep it moving forward. It means upending the status quo and creating something new.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Some simple principles:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong> &#8211;<\/strong> Software can change faster than hardware, which means that in changing markets, bet on software.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8211;<\/strong> It&#8217;s tempting to treat the user interface as a piece of fashion, some bling, a sort of jewelry. It&#8217;s not. It&#8217;s the way your user controls the tool you build. Change it when it stops working, not when you&#8217;re bored with it. Every time you change the interface, you better have a really good reason.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8211;<\/strong> Hardware always gets cheaper. If you can&#8217;t win that race, don&#8217;t run it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8211;<\/strong>Getting users is far more expensive than keeping users, which means that investing in keeping users is the smartest way to maintain your position and then grow.<\/li>\n<li><strong>&#8211;<\/strong>Software can create connection, and connection is the engine of our future economy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is more than a rant about Apple. Any company that makes or uses software has a wide-open opportunity to dramatically change the way we engage. Hardware, on the other hand, often closes more doors than it opens.<\/p>\n<p>If you can, make software. And bring enough value (through efficiency, power and connection) to the marketplace of your choosing that it will have trouble being productive or happy without you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can make software if you choose to. Not just the expected version of software that runs on a computer, but the metaphorical idea of rules and algorithms designed to solve problems and connect people&#8230; Apple started as a hardware company with the Apple II. Soon in, they realized that while hardware is required, it&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[714,715,269,668,473,729,685,261,90,461,574,487,507,182,327,293,162,242,440,288,248,720,722,716,717,462,471,514,549,224,445,496,550,325,120,252,551,725,727,726,459,683,679,731,517,719,575,622,621,183,555,651,652,681,680,730,682,116,117,483,600,548,570,547,527,678,684,674,677,676,675,672,670,671,669,667,592,653,566,718,673,723,571,654,660,657,659,658,655,34,650,572,567,569,568,553,552,701,691,695,692,698,687,697,693,699,689,700,702,696,690,688,694,706,598,705,708,593,591,710,707,594,703,711,597,709,704,585,595,596,589,590,586,588,587,599,644,645,199,56,565,577,576,580,581,582,583,584,721,712,623,601,728],"yst_prominent_words":[1439,883,1444,1440,1438,1446,1442,1441,1447,1026,1445,1443],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1078"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1083,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1078\/revisions\/1083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1078"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dolphinsgroup.co.ke\/dolphins_training\/blogging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}