Scooter this, buddy.

[chipotle]

Back when the Segway HT--a/k/a "Ginger" and "IT," the two-wheeled scooterish thing--was first revealed, I found myself defending it against a lot of people making incessant, often ill-informed jokes and derisive comments. It reached a point of high irritation, I think, because so many of my friends and acquaintances are sf/fantasy fans who often tend to be more starry-eyed than I, yet when something real came along, by and large they weren't willing to even give it the benefit of the doubt.

Well, poking around a bit just now led me to two articles about the Segway from Dan Bricklin. The opening paragraph of the first article, written before Bricklin had gotten to use a Segway hands on, begins:

Make sure you understand disruptive technologies. Their first incarnations often seem like toys compared to existing technologies. The Segway embodies lots of disruptive technologies. I'm pretty familiar with a previous one: The combination of electronic spreadsheet and the personal computer. The combination was first viewed as a toy compared to "real" computers and financial forecasting tools. It only sold about 10,000 copies in the first 10 months and was barely mentioned in the business press for a couple of years.

Bricklin is understating things a bit when he says he's pretty familiar with spreadsheets--he wrote VisiCalc. If you're interested in the Segway, whether as fan, skeptic or just someone who likes to think about the future, read both of Dan's articles.

Comments

Just finished the articles...

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

Here's my impression, after reading the articles...

If one were given to me, would I take it? Sure.

At my current state, would I rather spend $2000 on a Segway, or on a top-of-the-line bicycle? Definitely the bike.

In my opinion, the Segway might lead to other things -- especially as its range improves -- but it, itself, is not that impressive yet. For example, I can see it as a very safe 'camera crane': use the handlebars to indicate moving up and down. I can see other uses for that kind of 'stable platform', especially in rescue work. But I'm not yet impressed by Segway itself.