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Building Ecologies
posted Monday, 18 April 2005
Today the vast majority of new home construction in the western world
uses thousands of standardized pieces of hardware and building
materials. Efficiencies for suppliers are obvious. Skills needed to work
with standardized materials are passed on easily to large populations
of contractors.
Tools used are standarized, and benfit from price reduction and larger markets. Yet the modern construction industry continues to have many kinds of players, from indivduals contractors to small companies to the biggest bridge builders.
Commoditization does not mean homogenization - standards-based is different than homogenization. Modular materials make possible an endless list of specialties. At the same time, certain inventors, leaders in the field, continue to innovate. For example in the Open Source world, Doug Cutting needed a better search engine so he built it. His Lucene engine has emerged as a leader in the classic field of search, initially built by one person who wanted to do this basic function very, very well.
The construction industry is the largest industry in the world. New growth and efficiencies came from the standardization process there in. The commoditization of building supplies and tools did not end those industries. Rather, the focus turned even more to the end product, its uses and features.
Materials and tools are just a means to an end and we see a great deal of innovation, growth and more importantly, value to the customer in the years ahead in the Open Source movement.
Tools used are standarized, and benfit from price reduction and larger markets. Yet the modern construction industry continues to have many kinds of players, from indivduals contractors to small companies to the biggest bridge builders.
Commoditization does not mean homogenization - standards-based is different than homogenization. Modular materials make possible an endless list of specialties. At the same time, certain inventors, leaders in the field, continue to innovate. For example in the Open Source world, Doug Cutting needed a better search engine so he built it. His Lucene engine has emerged as a leader in the classic field of search, initially built by one person who wanted to do this basic function very, very well.
The construction industry is the largest industry in the world. New growth and efficiencies came from the standardization process there in. The commoditization of building supplies and tools did not end those industries. Rather, the focus turned even more to the end product, its uses and features.
Materials and tools are just a means to an end and we see a great deal of innovation, growth and more importantly, value to the customer in the years ahead in the Open Source movement.
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