Specialization vs Generalization

I’ve decided to get the Kindle Paperwhite.  I began thinking about why I was going to choose a Kindle Fire, and I realized I was aiming for the Fire just for “just in case scenarios”.  And to me, that’s a pointless reason to get something.  If you buy a device that is capable of media, you are going to use it for a media device.  I don’t want a device to watch TV I don’t watch anyways.  There are many other things I’d rather spend my time on.  So I’m going to get the Kindle Paperwhite.

Though the Fire is a very good media machine, turning the same device into an e-reader defeats the purpose and utility of the Paperwhite.  I find a simplistic elegance in the Paperwhite.  It is a one purpose device, and somehow that fits within my type of mindset.  There are a lot of tools out there that try to be everything and end up being nothing.  But if you look in a good tool bag, you will find some very special purpose tools.  A good set of crimpers is like that.  After a while, the cable cutter is worn out so you can’t cut through cable, much less remove the housing.  At that point, crimpers become precisely the purpose they were built for.  They are a tool with a singular purpose, and if they come out of your belt, they’re going to be used for one thing.  There brilliance and simplicity in that.

Many tablets attempt to be a desktop, a laptop, and an entertainment tablet.  The best of them only does one thing.  Desktops are bulky, clunky, stationary, and wonderfully overpowered machines.  Laptops are the small, mid speed devices meant for getting small things done anywhere.  Entertainment tablets are made for just that: small, handheld entertainment.  And that’s it.  When they try to do all things for everyone, the world just ends up pissed.

For most of the life of Windows, it has been an “all things for all people” operating system.  In trying to be all things for all people, it gets to be very generic and doesn’t end up serving the needs of everyone in all situations.  There are many situations in which other operating systems are much better.  That’s the problem with being a generalist.  When compared to an expert, a generalist is a fool.  But the expert is generally an expert in one subject.  Jump subjects, and the generalist will almost always win. 

So, I’m going to buy the best e-reader I’ve seen to read.  And that’s it.  The generalist is going to stay a generalist.  My specialist will stay my specialist.  And both will have their place.