We live in revolutionary times. This is not because the mob has taken to the streets demanding the heads of the ruling elite, food and freedom for all. That may yet come. Instead the revolutionary times we live in are the result of marketing hyperbole from industry suppliers, from technology providers and from those that handle their messaging. It seems a product today cannot come to market unless it is ‘revolutionary’ in some way. Just this week a new paper from Mondi could revolutionise ecommerce while Kornit is “rewriting the rules” for the entire textile industry.
The coming week will be even more ‘revolutionary’ as the large format inkjet industry gathers in Berlin for Fespa. Numerous products and developments will be announced and launched over the four days. Many we will be told, will be revolutionary for the use of technology, for the application and productivity. Of course they will not be revolutionary in the least, or at least they will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And it is all too easy for those reporting developments to fall into line and to repeat that X or Y will be responsible for a ‘new revolution’, which of course, is the idea.
Revolutions are rarely a good idea. They are disruptive (another favourite epithet of those with a new product to sell), destroy the existing structures and networks that have sustained a business and industry for many years and result in misery for many. Real revolutions are rarely happy events: even the spate of Arab Spring revolutions has not led to lasting change. In print real revolutions are even rarer: PostScript and desktop publishing; the first colour digital presses; or digital file transfer may qualify. Ten years after the introduction of nanography, more litho presses are being sold than are those using the ‘revolutionary’ technology. The first generation of ‘revolutionary’ products is all too frequently inadequate. It took PDF as a replacement for PostScript to create real change, the http internet protocol to make digital file transfer reliable, and HP to transform the first colour digital press into a truly revolutionary proposition. It takes time for the real effects of any revolution to be felt and for society to rebalance after the initial shock of change. So when out looking for technology to have a beneficial effect on your business, it may make sense to avoid or at least look carefully at those ‘revolutionary’ products.
The revolution will not be revealed at Fespa
We live in revolutionary times. This is not because the mob has taken to the streets demanding the heads of the ruling elite, food and freedom for all. That may yet come. Instead the revolutionary times we live in are the result of marketing hyperbole from industry suppliers, from technology providers and from those that handle their messaging. It seems a product today cannot come to market unless it is ‘revolutionary’ in some way. Just this week a new paper from Mondi could revolutionise ecommerce while Kornit is “rewriting the rules” for the entire textile industry.
The coming week will be even more ‘revolutionary’ as the large format inkjet industry gathers in Berlin for Fespa. Numerous products and developments will be announced and launched over the four days. Many we will be told, will be revolutionary for the use of technology, for the application and productivity. Of course they will not be revolutionary in the least, or at least they will be evolutionary rather than revolutionary. And it is all too easy for those reporting developments to fall into line and to repeat that X or Y will be responsible for a ‘new revolution’, which of course, is the idea.
Revolutions are rarely a good idea. They are disruptive (another favourite epithet of those with a new product to sell), destroy the existing structures and networks that have sustained a business and industry for many years and result in misery for many. Real revolutions are rarely happy events: even the spate of Arab Spring revolutions has not led to lasting change. In print real revolutions are even rarer: PostScript and desktop publishing; the first colour digital presses; or digital file transfer may qualify. Ten years after the introduction of nanography, more litho presses are being sold than are those using the ‘revolutionary’ technology. The first generation of ‘revolutionary’ products is all too frequently inadequate. It took PDF as a replacement for PostScript to create real change, the http internet protocol to make digital file transfer reliable, and HP to transform the first colour digital press into a truly revolutionary proposition. It takes time for the real effects of any revolution to be felt and for society to rebalance after the initial shock of change. So when out looking for technology to have a beneficial effect on your business, it may make sense to avoid or at least look carefully at those ‘revolutionary’ products.
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