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A comment on A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the fridge I own now. Parent comment

Re:A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the f... by vsareto on Monday July 31, 2023 @10:21AM (#36942923)
It's iterative vs. up-front design. Or agile vs. waterfall. Designers shouldn't be doing iterative development when the supply chain works best with up-front design. They might be forced to because of how the business operates though. Iterative design and quicker product releases are a quicker feedback loop for the business.

Most companies don't do grand designs or long-standing flagship products meant to be advertised for years, but that may actually be on the consumer by constantly choosing the new thing. I don't think any car manufacturer has left a car design completely unchanged for longer than 10 years, for instance. Same for computer or laptop manufacturers.

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Re:A fridge from 70 years ago has better features than the f... by ethbr0 on Monday July 31, 2023 @10:38AM (#36943229)
IMHO, the progression that explains the current state of things is:

{vendor power decrease} led to {fierce competition on unit price} led to {consolidation of vendors and manufacturing cost minimization / volume maximization} led to {offshore lower cost manufacturing} led to {decreased design agility}

Consequently, there's less appetite for the type of wild experiments that characterized 1950s and 1960s design.

Low volume = not interested

It used to be that tech was insulated from the phenomenon, but I think Google shows the same progression playing out. It just took tech longer to consolidate.

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