Novel user interface ideas are public goods
Studio design practices can’t create the most powerful Tools for thought: Inventing the Hindu-Arabic numerals requires both design genius and mathematical genius Mental states of deep software development and deep research thinking are mutually exclusive Insight through making in Tools for thought requires developing new software interfaces which express domain theories, then studying those interfaces and their usage to improve your theories. In practice, it’s quite difficult to think deeply about theories while in the midst of a significant software development project. And it’s hard to build momentum on software development when spending much of one’s day in reflection and writing. Worse: Switching costs are high between software development and research thinking. Novel user interface ideas are public goods One core challenge for Tools for thought is that their core insights are generally expensive to produce but cheap to duplicate. For example, Adobe developed countless interactions
Novel user interface ideas are public goods One core challenge for Tools for thought is that their core insights are generally expensive to produce but cheap to duplicate. For example, Adobe developed countless interactions and metaphors in Photoshop and Illustrator which Sketch and Figma could copy and improve without paying for years of R&D. Apple spent years developing modern multi-touch interfaces; Google copied them in under a year and suffered little in the ensuing lawsuits. A novel interface idea is roughly a Public good: they’re non-excludable (Excludability), modulo the relatively…
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