no mo beta for me please, the Tech Wiz (well ok some, but controlled)

Back in the days of the PocketPC, we used to have to get sleeves to add additional functionality to our devices. Each sleeve would add GPS, Compact Flash storage and so on. I had two or three of them with various functions. One had a full slot that I could put an air card in. That let the PPC connect to the internet, send and receive email and so on. The funny thing is, people used to make fun of me having that, it wasn’t a phone, and look at how big it is. Frankly eh screen on my PPC was smaller than the screen is on my iPhone 8 now.  The reason for this is my office cleanup recently. I’ve been going through things I no longer use fairly regularly now and putting the items in good condition on eBay.

It has been an interesting process so far.

The rate at which technology changes is the interesting problem right now. In part, the changes move very quickly. I find myself talking to other professionals in my field, and we often lament the rate of change. Change is the one thing you can always count on. Based on the reality of change around me I have spent years preparing myself for change. The choice of being either a built-in system or a portable system. When I can, I choose portable. Not as powerful, but frankly useful in more places.  Portability is one of my considerations. Functionality is another consideration, one that I often find critical when something is new. When technology has a more established market, you can begin to see easier connection points.

New technology often doesn’t have clear connection points. That becomes the reality of early adopters. Now, I am an early adopter of many types of technologies. For some technologies I just want them to work. I do not often use beta software on my iPhone unless it is in the test flight application from Apple. The reason for that is the reality of the PPC paragraph I began with. I prefer to be stable with the things I rely on. The value of a cell phone is accessible anywhere you are. The pain point is having to rebuild your phone every third day because it just doesn’t work right. I do have a couple PC’s that I am letting the insider builds install on, that let’s me see what is coming. But my production computers, do not, in fact, have that because I don’t like the risk it presents.