Ecosystems: Come Get Some

I’ve been thinking some more about yesterday’s post regarding the relentless march of system engineering and the death of compatibility, and a few things have occurred to me. Of the two or three people still reading this blog, I suspect my audience now divides pretty evenly into:

• Those intrigued by misadventure and perversely curious to see if I’ve survived each day–and if a blog post would show up anyway, even if I didn’t.
• Those inclined to think so much like me that I’m now your daily affirmation. Lookin’ good, guys.

Misadventure has been at a minimum lately, though by “lately” I mean no attempt has been made on my life in the last 48-hours, and for the record I did manage to flat somehow on what’s only a two mile ride into work this morning, so I’m not ready to declare life as official “grand” just yet. But while misadventure takes a much needed holiday, I’d like to focus on that second one, those deeply interesting individuals out there who share my strange views.

Well done.

Given that you probably already think like me, you’ll no doubt be thinking exactly what I’m thinking about proprietary designs. Exactly! It sure worked for Sega when it comes to urinal video games.

Yes, the one time mighty video game console manufacturer who contributed Sonic the Hedgehog to the culture of Western Civilization before failing to keep up with X-boxes and Playstations of the world has found what we’d call a niche, manufacturing urinal-based interactive video games.

Yep. Stop thinking about “standards” for bikes and start thinking instead about “ecosystems,” today’s hip term for “shit that doesn’t work with other shit.” Apple may be the undisputed lords of ecosystem, owning nearly 100% of the hardware, software, and messy “humans” involved in the manufacturing, sale, and use of their products. Liberate your music files from iTunes and you feel like you should have cosmetic surgery and move to Mexico. Jailbreak your iPhone and you probably should.

But not to be outdone, Sega is showing us that which ecosystem you own isn’t important. What’s important is owning one. And check out how awesome the games are.

I can’t even imagine getting tired of that video game. It makes me wish I could piss for hours and hours. You have to hand it to Sega. There’s just something so funny about terrible weather in Japan, and is there nothing anime chauvinism can’t make even more funny?

Listen up, bike companies. Sega teaches us it’s not what you own; it’s just that you own it. Hello 50mm pipe spindle bottom brackets with electromagnetic fields for bearings® and trucker mudflap chick tread pattern tires©!