Seeing the Big Picture
Recognizing genius is not always easy to do.
As they say, hindsight is always 20/20 vision. Once some ingenious invention radically changes our lives, it might seem that it was inevitable. If the invention was something relatively simple, then many people will ask themselves “Why didn’t I think of that?” This has been occurring since the invention of the wheel.
The Internet and the Personal Computer (or PC), have undoubtedly changed the world. While both were the product of many different inventions, each building something important that made a piece of the puzzle more complete; there are two individuals who were key. One is Steve Wozniak who built the first Apple computer. The other is Tim Berners-Lee who came up with the idea of the World Wide Web.
When Wozniak started assembling that first Apple in 1975, there were other computing devices already available. Mainframes and mini-computers from companies like IBM, dominated the market; but hobbyist computing kits using the newly invented ‘micro-processor’ were emerging. Wozniak simply built the kind of computer that he personally wanted using available parts. He tried to sell the idea to HP, where he was working as an employee building calculators, but they turned him down several times.
Likewise, when Berners-Lee first proposed in 1989, the idea of the World Wide Web to CERN, where he was working; his manager failed to recognize how important it would become and initially rejected it. At the time, the Internet was still in its infancy. There were many computers already connected using a packet-switched network and sending things like email to each other; but only highly-skilled computer specialists could navigate the many steps and commands needed to do basic things across ‘The Net’. His idea changed it so that everyone could easily access information just by clicking a mouse while using a browser.
With both the PC and the Web; few people at the time they were introduced, recognized just how important they would become. The first Apple did not do very much, as most useful software applications were still years away. Likewise, the first few websites were not nearly as useful as many are today. If the innovators and early adopters of either technology had failed to see their potential and didn’t actively work to promote them; recent history would have been much different.
It takes a special skill to look beyond the current usefulness of a new invention and see how it might make a significant impact further down the road. Complicated inventions that require the inventor to have an exceptional talent in a particular field, are often much harder to understand. When they are first introduced into the market, many people may be skeptical that they will even work and many more may doubt that they will be a resounding success. Understanding how each one may change the world sometimes requires a fair bit of research and pondering, which few people are willing to do.
In order to gain initial market acceptance, inventors often need to promote specific features of their new gadgets that are already familiar to people. While this can improve the chance for success, it can also be a detriment. If something looks too familiar, people might fail to recognize how it is different from the status quo and see the need for a change.
The Tesla electric vehicle, for example, is radically different than the standard car or truck with an internal combustion engine. At first glance, it looks a lot like other cars. It has four tires, a steering wheel, and a windshield. It drives by pushing on either an accelerator or a brake pedal. But anything further than a cursory inspection will reveal that it is fundamentally different. It has no gas tank but needs a battery pack and plugs into an electrical outlet. It doesn’t need engine oil changes every few thousand miles. Its acceleration, handling, and emissions are radically different.
Electric cars, computers, mobile phones, the Internet, and a whole host of other complicated inventions have gone through similar phases of skepticism and misunderstanding before widespread adoption. Many who recognized their uniqueness and potential when they were first introduced were able to capitalize in ways that others who waited until mass adoption, didn’t.
I believe that my own invention, a new general-purpose data management system called Didgets; also has the potential to radically change the computing landscape. I have built an easy-to-use data analytics tool on top of the platform that I believe shows some of the power and flexibility of the underlying code. While the tool can be very useful to businesses and consumers who want greater insight into their data sets; the real purpose of the tool is to promote the general platform and get users to recognize its potential in many other areas.
The Didgets platform is built using three basic principles.
Break down data into simple, compartmentalized components that can be stored, combined, and manipulated independently using intelligent data objects called Didgets. Each type of Didget shares common attributes, but also has unique capabilities. A Didget can be useful on its own, but each one is also built to be easily combined with other Didgets to form more complex structures like relational tables or file hierarchies.
Attach meta-data tags to these Didgets so that groups of them can be easily found and organized even when there are large numbers of them. It is much more than just ‘finding a needle in a large haystack’. It is finding a million specific needles spread across a billion haystacks in record time.
Organize the data and use efficient algorithms so that large amounts of data can be processed in parallel. Use the power of modern, multi-core CPUs to get results in a fraction of the time.
No other data management system is like Didgets. It is truly unique in how it stores and manages data. Getting people to investigate and recognize its potential remains a significant challenge. I must get them to focus on its current abilities and not so much on incomplete features or ones that are still on the drawing board. Finding people who will look for ‘The Big Picture’ is never easy.
I am still looking for innovators and early adopters. If you think you might be one, check it out at www.Didgets.com. Anyone can download it and try it for free.