Choice Limits Choice

And so it has come to pass. I have actually closed a tech avenue by choosing an alternative product which gives me alternative choices. And it makes me feel lost. The fact is, with the technology explosion being as it is, we have reached a crux point where the products that we choose to use, instead of opening up possibilities, have become synonymous with closing other possibilities. 

Case in point is my HFX Media Center, which was connected to my flat screen TV. I believe boredom was the key reason as to why I switched to a more conventional Pioneer DVR (Digital Video Recorder). And three days down the line, I am detoxing because I have not been able to watch my Video Pods because I kind of convinced myself that I would watch them on my laptop. This turned out not to be the case because I like watching video on the TV. Laptops as media consumption machines are kind of lame, to be honest, unless it's a game or you are a total geek; a 42-inch plasma or LCD beats any computer screen hands down, bar none.

But this "choice-iness" that the modern consumer is faced with is even reflecting on the plethora of web communication tools. From Twitter, Facebook, Skype, Friendfeed, Google Chat to name a few. Does anybody remember the honorable IRC (Internet Relay Chat) 12+ years ago?  If you wanted to chat then that was it! And then came ICQ and boom! A fragmented market.

The issue at hand is what you are choosing away rather than what you are choosing these days. Companies are struggling to get that competitive edge, and when they do get a winner on their hands, they lock it down. Then, as soon as you have spent your hard earned cash on something,  something else comes a long. The WWW seems to be the great democratizer of information; the ideal should be that it also becomes the great democratizer of technology. But this seems not to be the case as companies are increasingly locking customers into infinite loops of their own proprietary technology.

What to do? It is the experience that matters, it is experience that gets us to commit our emotional currencies  to a product or service. Technology comes and goes faster than a speeding bullet these days, but what we as consumers need to have a clear picture about is what we want. We are supposed to be informed consumers.  We do have the world's biggest research tool at the tips of our fingers, all we need to do is use it. Now there would be a novelty...making informed choices. (On the other hand, if the Web was to be believed, Ron Paul would now be president of the USA.)

P.S. Three days after selling my Media Center, the web was abuzz with the fact that Media Center software is finally getting traction in the market and that it's just a question of time before it goes mainstream. Sheesh!