I have come to believe that software is becoming the neglected stepchild of many interesting connected gadgets, and the results are not good for any of us. The vendors of these devices seem to have a good grasp of what the market needs and the necessary hardware to accomplish those ends, but inadequate software is undermining them.
The Blue Screen of Death at DFW did not make me reticent to board my flight
I feel that the state of the art of software has improved over the years. Sure, it continues to have bugs, but those tend to be in the glitzy, non-essential features rather than the critical functionality. Airplanes seldom drop out of the sky due to software failures, but I’ve frequently been on flights when the movie system fails or the WiFi is not working. Despite these glitches, I no longer think twice about getting on a fly-by-software plane.
In the arena of connected devices, companies have done a good job of having solid hardware with good enough software at debut and then adding functionality over time. Lately, however, I feel like there has been a setback in this progress.
This has been particularly true with products from Kickstarter and Indiegogo. The goals and hardware may well be very good, but software with bugs in crucial areas of functionality ruins the product. Sure, the software may improve over time, but it’s already made a first impression, and most folks won’t wait that long.
Obviously, my thinking may be somewhat clouded by my recent experiences with the KREYOS watch. However, it is not alone. The Pebble watch had plenty of issues when it debuted. And so did the LIFX smartbulb, as well as a few other products I’ve not yet reviewed, such as my Olive ONE music player and even my BMW i3 electric car. It doesn’t matter if your watch, light bulb, music player, or car look cool, demo nicely, and promise lots of features if they can’t tell time, keep a room lighted, play music smoothly, or stop the engine! (Yes, I’ve experienced all of those in the last couple months.)
The critical link among all of these is some combination of shipping the product too early, pursuing flash at the expense of basic functionality, and inadequate testing. A typical crowd-funded project runs rather late. So, the pressure is on to ship the product. This is no less true within established companies, even large and renowned ones, developing new products.
The challenge is that companies often leave software until late in the development cycle or the hardware designers rely on software to cover up hardware issues. On top of this, we have the necessary issues of connectivity and compatibility between devices in the era of tech everywhere. What you end up with is the mess I’ve been experiencing.
I fear things will not be getting better any time soon. That means that the penalties for early adopters like me (and many of you) will continue to be high. Sadly, I’ll be the guy sitting in my office lit by a light bulb with a pink glow that someone else set, listening to music that randomly pauses while I try to reboot my watch. That assumes, of course, that I don’t stay in my garage while I wait for the gasoline range extender in my electric car to turn off. In that case, the other tech glitches won’t matter!
