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Products we would like to see

No.20: NOTHING

What if we could put computer development on pause? Not the technology behind them – let the processor makers keep packing in more transistors and wasting less heat, and the case designers can still shave a millimetre off everything every six months if they really want to.

But what if we said no new features? Just for a while – until we figure out what the heck is going on – nobody piles any more functionality into their hardware or software. Instead, they take the time to fix what’s already there. Rather than inventing new file formats, make the existing ones compatible with each other. Instead of piling more code into programs, and more bugs with it, rewrite what’s there to work more efficiently. Stop looking for new gimmicks to compete for attention, and look at what users actually want. Maybe even try to refine products so they cost less, and more people can afford them, instead of ‘adding value’ to justify price rises.

All right, it’s not going to happen and we‘re glad computers don’t still look like the Commodore PET (above), but must they change so fast?