~ryanlowe/blog: Herd Behaviour

About

I'm Ryan Lowe, a Software Engineering graduate living in Ottawa, Canada. I like agile software development and Ruby on Rails.

I write this blog in Canadian English and don't use a spell checker. Typos happen.

Projects

» Full-time Ruby on Rails freelancer
» Full-time with Rails since May 2005
» Former committer for RadRails (now Aptana)
» I also have a few Rails side-projects in development:
  1. wheretogoinTO.com Toronto nightlife
  2. Hey Heads Up! TODO list and sharing
  3. Layered Genealogy family history research
  4. foos for foosball scoring
  5. fanconcert for music fans (on hold)

Hiring Rails developers? I can telecommute by the hour from Ottawa, Canada

»» Email: rails AT ryanlowe DOT ca

BulletBlog

Now hosted on Hey! Heads Up -- check it out!

Syndication

Blog in RSS 1.0, RSS 2.0 or Atom 0.3
Blog Comments in RSS 1.0
BulletBlog in RSS 1.0

Pings

Recent

Derek Lowe's (Ryan's older brother) words at Ryan's funeral
blog@ryanlowe.ca no more
Forging Email Headers: Good, Bad or Ugly?
Sarcastic Dictionary (Part 1 of Many)
Tags Hierarchies
Twisting Rails is Risky Business
Risky Business? My Take on Early Alphas
Whoa, it's August 2007
Closing Comments
A Postscript to "Growth at the grassroots"

»» All Blog Posts

Linkage

Archives

March 2010
April 2008
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
April 2007
March 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002

Herd Behaviour

I don't want to spam Scoble's comments any more, so I'll post here. :) He says in his comments:

No one had to upgrade from DOS. No one has to upgrade to Longhorn. Microsoft will, however, try to make it compelling for you to do that.

Of course they don't have to. No one has to have a TV these days but most people do so they can watch Animaniacs. They need to have Windows because they want to surf the web in a browser. Peer pressure, man. It's not just for teenagers anymore.

You compel your users to upgrade by dangling the content carrot in their faces. Then they honestly believe they "have to" have email. They have to have a web browser. These fringe things become part of their daily lives and are now a requirement -- like electricity. The turning point comes when you think of how your life would be drastically different without Technology X. Wow, where would we be?

So you have to upgrade. Who wants to lose the rat race? Not Joe User, that's for sure.

Posted at June 12, 2003 at 12:45 AM EST
Last updated June 12, 2003 at 12:45 AM EST

Comments

a little ot, but the animaniacs was probably my most like cartoon... i think had it continued on the adultish trail, I would have to say I liked it more than simpsons (and I love the simpsons)

» Posted by: andrew at June 14, 2003 12:58 PM

It definitely had a lot of jokes for adults. I remembered thinking "what grown-ups would watch a cartoon like this?" but then I realised that some parents probably watch TV with their kids. What a novel idea. :)

» Posted by: Ryan at June 14, 2003 06:43 PM