From: blockedofcourse@foo.invalid   
      
   On 1/10/2026 6:32 AM, Theo wrote:   
   > Waldek Hebisch  wrote:   
   >> Don Y  wrote:   
   >>>    
   >>   
   >> IMO, those are not technical failures.  Rather, they show how current   
   >> economy works.  Remember, goal of a businesses is to make money.   
   >> Delivering working product is just cost of doing business.  And   
   >> as business improve, there is tendency to cut costs.   
   >   
   > Many of these companies see stock market money as the thing to be made, not   
   > profits.  'Line go up' == success.  The CEO will exit before investors   
   > discover that lines also go down.  The investors are also piling in on a   
   > 'line go up' basis, rather than a sober reflection on the potential market,   
   > revenues, profit, costs, etc.   
      
   Possibly.  But Feeping Creaturism costs money.  Every development   
   dollar spent on features that don't improve sales is a dollar   
   diverted from {Advertising, Research, Development, Stock Buy Backs, etc.}   
      
   One has to wonder if the "Marketing" folks actually understand their   
   markets or if they are just reacting to the latest fads.   
      
   Our refrigerator has three evaporators and an autofill water pitcher,   
   accessible through-the-door.  Both are definite "wins" in terms of utility.   
   I have no idea how anyone could think there was a need for WiFi or BT!   
   What value-added, that?   
      
   >> The products in the article clearly represent things that   
   >> businesses want to sell.  Some people will buy them because   
   >> features look attractive to then.  Other will buy once there   
   >> are no alternatives.   
   >   
   > It seems like the companies are skipping the 'doing things customers want'   
   > stage and moving straight to the 'make $$$$' stage, which is possible when   
   > there are ever more gullible investors to throw money at them (or you can   
   > skew the market enough such that index funds etc will roboinvest in them).   
      
   But reality eventually catches up in terms of profit/loss statements.   
   Investors move on to the next "scammer", unceremoniously abandoning   
   their "investment" in your firm.   
      
   I think these things (WiFi in appliances, AI, "Family Hubs", etc.)   
   boil down to a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology and   
   its "value added".  Like chocolate covered pistachios (NOT pistachio   
   NUT MEATS but actual pistachios -- the nuts you INTEND to pry open   
   with your fingertips but can only do so after you have LICKED   
   off the chocolate).   
      
   It will be interesting to see if "AI" becomes a term to be avoided   
   as job losses attributable to AI become more prominent.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)