Hi Jared, apologies for being unclear. I think the Roka box is a great idea - "do one thing and do it well". Anyway I've laboured that point to death and obviously wasnt very eloquent in my argument that the Roka box is a feature and AppleTV is a system
>From a systems perspective, a 'computer' is a versatile tool that can be applied to a wide range of problems. Metaphorically its the hammer and all problems start to look like nails. The advantage to this approach is cost efficiencies gained in the mass production of this tool means it can be quickly and cheaply applied to design problems. The downside however is that the tool's interface (OS UI framework & peripherals) has to be generic enough for it to be applicable to a wide range of problems which leads to issues such as http://www.flickr.com/photos/zigzaglens/1944832885/ For example, a PC can be a games machine, but it will never be as good as a Playstation/XBox/Wii. It can be packaged as a media center but wont be as good as an Apple TV. It has an infinite number of applications but not always as good as a dedicated product if the task is simple and well defined. As a systems solution its a jack of all trades but master of none. So, to your example of the Sony BKM FW50 (who comes up with these names?) a computer could be applied here, the issue is having non technical staff operate an application... total cost of a lowend PC, Linux & application maybe ~$400. The Sony solution, doing one task well, weighs in at $720. That premium of ~$320 is for no end-user support & display space savings. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
