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It's Not Too Late for Old School Technology

If inventions can evolve, they can survive, says New York Times

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Mar 23, 2008 4:17 PM CDT

(Newser) – Older technologies frequently face predictions of their demise as they are replaced with cutting-edge innovations, but so-called progress is rarely the sea change it’s chalked up to be, writes Steve Lohr in the New York Times. If old tech can adapt, it can often stay alive. Case in point: PCs were supposed to kill the mainframe computer, but the back office workhorse is still kicking thanks to investment and improvements.

Changes in business practices, along with the evolution of old technology, can keep systems afloat. Movies faced a turf war with television, but they held on thanks to changes that kept the cinematic experience more vivid than TV viewers could expect. Some say digital media will kill the silver screen, but a tech forecaster says film can dodge another bullet: “Technologies want to survive,” so “they reinvent themselves.”

A woman rushes in to a movie theater to be among the first to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Tuesday , July 10, 2007 in New York.
A woman rushes in to a movie theater to be among the first to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Tuesday , July 10, 2007 in New York.   (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)
An attendee sprints past IBM's new Z10 mainframe on display at Novell's BrainShare conference Tuesday, March 18, 2008, in Salt Lake City.
An attendee sprints past IBM's new Z10 mainframe on display at Novell's BrainShare conference Tuesday, March 18, 2008, in Salt Lake City.   (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac)
Old technology like the radio has survived by evolving.
Old technology like the radio has survived by evolving.   (Shutterstock.com)
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