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Revision as of 18:17, 30 June 2011
Bleeding edge technology refers to technology that is so new that it could have a high risk of being unreliable and may incur greater expense in order to use it.[1] The term bleeding edge is formed as an allusion to "leading edge" and its synonym cutting edge, but tends to imply both a greater degree of risk and advancement.
Criteria
A technology may be considered bleeding edge where it contains a degree of risk, or, more generally, there is a significant downside to early adoption, such as:
- Lack of consensus — competing ways of doing new things exist and there is little to no indication in which direction the market will go; there is unfamiliarity with the product.[2]
- Lack of knowledge — organizations are trying to implement a new technology or product that the trade journals have not even started talking about yet, either for or against.[citation needed]
- Industry resistance to change — trade journals and industry leaders have spoken against a new technology or product but some organizations are trying to implement it anyway because they are convinced it is technically superior.[citation needed]
Costs and benefits
The rewards for successful early adoption of new technologies can be great in terms of established a comparative advantage in otherwise competitive markets;[2] unfortunately, the penalties for "betting on the wrong horse" (e.g. in a format war) or choosing the wrong product are equally large. Whenever an organization decides to take a chance on bleeding edge technology there is a chance that they will be stuck with a white elephant or worse.
Bleeding edge computer software, especially open source software, is especially common. Indeed, it is usual practice for open source developers to release new, bleeding edge, versions of their software fairly frequently, sometimes in a rather unpolished state to allow others to review, test, and, in many cases, contribute to. Therefore users who want features that have not been implemented in older, more stable releases of the software are able to choose the bleeding edge version. In such cases the user is willing to sacrifice stability or ease of use for the sake of increased functionality.[3]
See also
Notes
- ^ "Dictionary definition of bleeding edge". Retrieved 12 September 2008.
- ^ a b Effy Oz (23 January 2008). Management Information Systems. Cengage Learning. p. 65. ISBN 9781423901785. Retrieved 9 November 2010.
- ^ Rikishi, Niramiai (December 2000). "Selling in the Bazaar: How Open Source Manages Code". AAUGN. AUUG, Inc.: 41. Retrieved 9 November 2010.