3 ms·

It's certainly a risk. I think of concept videos as being a close cousin to a technology demo -- stuff that conveys the idea about where you're trying to get to

It's certainly a risk. I think of concept videos as being a close cousin to a technology demo -- stuff that conveys the idea about where you're trying to get to, even if you haven't gotten there. I don't think that technology demos and concept videos are ill-founded in general, but I certainly agree that they can be. Microsoft Surface was a technology demo for quite a while, then it became a product... and then almost nobody bought it. It still looks cool. But while Microsoft used multitouch to build a cool thing that nobody uses, Apple used multitouch to change the world millions of devices at a time. Then again, Kinect started life as a technology demo, too. And now it's a technology demo that's in the living rooms of millions of people. Without the demo, it would probably have been difficult to gather the resources to produce such a transformative product, even if it did get greenlit as a response to the Wii. So I think it's more fair to say that they can be good or bad, and I think this applies to concept videos too. If they have a plan of attack for the stuff in that MS concept video and the video helps them shepherd the resources to actually build it, then I think it's a good thing as long as it's something people actually want. You're right that there's a lot of fluff in there like the super thin bezel-free phones, but there's also plenty of things in there about embedding smarter context (Siri takes a modest step in this direction, and it's a great one), simplifying communications, and pulling different user interaction paradigms together so that it's not just "X or Y or Z" but all of the above, focusing on whichever one or two are the most useful at the moment. If MS can use this video as marching orders, and deliver products that do that, we all win.

neild 15y ago
A concept video is the polar opposite of a tech demo. A tech demo is a demo. It's real. You can use it, you can see how well it works, and you can get a feel for whether it can be developed into something real or not. Making a tech demo is an exercise in putting your money where your mouth is. A concept video, in contrast, is just a bunch of special effects. It exists free of any constraints. You can make a concept video for something which is impossible to make--time machines, faster-than-light spaceships, cars that run on water.
- kenjackson 15y ago
  A concept video, in contrast, is just a bunch of special effects. It exists free of any constraints. I disagree. If anything a concept video shows you where your constraints are. Concept videos aren't so effective for showing you what you can do -- but they are effective for pointing out what you're NOT thinking about (where you have effectively constrained yourself w/o knowing it). For example, would a 2005 concept video show people using a stylus on a tablet like device? I suspect quite possibly. An astute concept video watcher would question that. And hopefully open a conversation about it in a way you can't do with a tech demo (because people can shoot back in a tech demo that you need a stylus for a resistive display and capacitive is too expensive).
  - teyc 15y ago
    whoops, I wanted to vote you up but hit the down button by mistake.
- wisty 15y ago
  In graph search, the A* algorithm is faster because it relaxes constraints. If you have a heuristic to guide you, you get to the end faster than just feeling around your immediate surroundings. There are problems with concept videos, though. Mostly, they seem like a sign of poor leadership. Concept videos aren't a plan. They are a sales pitch. There's only three reasons I can imagine you would need a marketing campaign (not just an elevator pitch and in-depth memo) for your plan - your leadership doesn't buy it, or your staff don't buy it, or there's infighting that is getting resolved internal marketeering. OK, maybe you need to excite the general public, but I doubt it. If Steve Ballmer (or his board) doesn't buy his own lieutenants' plans, it's a problem. If the engineers in MS need to be sold on the plan, it's a problem. And if executives are spending money and time lobbying Ballmer for more resources, that's expected in a big company, but if they think that slick videos are the way to go then things are getting out of hand. MS should be killing internal marketing, both the demand (dummy management not listening) and the supply (encouraging slick middle managers who think their job is to acquire more resources at all costs). There's various ways to do this (mostly techniques known as "communicating", "making hard decisions at the top", and "not putting up with the guys who try to pull this shit"). But first they should recognise that there's a problem.

neild 15y ago

A concept video is the polar opposite of a tech demo. A tech demo is a demo. It's real. You can use it, you can see how well it works, and you can get a feel for whether it can be developed into something real or not. Making a tech demo is an exercise in putting your money where your mouth is. A concept video, in contrast, is just a bunch of special effects. It exists free of any constraints. You can make a concept video for something which is impossible to make--time machines, faster-than-light spaceships, cars that run on water.

kenjackson 15y ago
A concept video, in contrast, is just a bunch of special effects. It exists free of any constraints. I disagree. If anything a concept video shows you where your constraints are. Concept videos aren't so effective for showing you what you can do -- but they are effective for pointing out what you're NOT thinking about (where you have effectively constrained yourself w/o knowing it). For example, would a 2005 concept video show people using a stylus on a tablet like device? I suspect quite possibly. An astute concept video watcher would question that. And hopefully open a conversation about it in a way you can't do with a tech demo (because people can shoot back in a tech demo that you need a stylus for a resistive display and capacitive is too expensive).
- teyc 15y ago
  whoops, I wanted to vote you up but hit the down button by mistake.
wisty 15y ago
In graph search, the A* algorithm is faster because it relaxes constraints. If you have a heuristic to guide you, you get to the end faster than just feeling around your immediate surroundings. There are problems with concept videos, though. Mostly, they seem like a sign of poor leadership. Concept videos aren't a plan. They are a sales pitch. There's only three reasons I can imagine you would need a marketing campaign (not just an elevator pitch and in-depth memo) for your plan - your leadership doesn't buy it, or your staff don't buy it, or there's infighting that is getting resolved internal marketeering. OK, maybe you need to excite the general public, but I doubt it. If Steve Ballmer (or his board) doesn't buy his own lieutenants' plans, it's a problem. If the engineers in MS need to be sold on the plan, it's a problem. And if executives are spending money and time lobbying Ballmer for more resources, that's expected in a big company, but if they think that slick videos are the way to go then things are getting out of hand. MS should be killing internal marketing, both the demand (dummy management not listening) and the supply (encouraging slick middle managers who think their job is to acquire more resources at all costs). There's various ways to do this (mostly techniques known as "communicating", "making hard decisions at the top", and "not putting up with the guys who try to pull this shit"). But first they should recognise that there's a problem.