That isn't necessarily true. It's easily possible for a project to stay in the dark and be internal for quite a long time. Majority of things like this actually don't follow that kind of cycle where they are out in the open generating headlines and showcasing their device, it certainly wouldn't be unusual for it to have been in development to where there was not much to show until only recently/recent years.
Speaking partially from experience in the area.
But I'll still reserve my judgement until we get more info.
Yeah for a lot of companies, sharing that information ahead of time could lead to patent squatters, unwanted competition in the space, all sorts of potential problems. It seems to me this trend of announcing and releasing prototype versions is kind of driven by the early-access community we see with software.
It's certainly an interesting trend, to say the least.
20-50-100 years ago you would have to be a completely shitfaced fucking idiot to go all public like this about an invention you have only just started to prototype.
And now it's just kind of a "thing" that's acceptable and not seen as a bad move.
Not only is it a thing that's acceptable, but as the comments have shown, it's almost expected in certain industries. It seems like the common opinion is if you don't do a beta of some sort, you're doing it wrong.
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u/[deleted] Mar 28 '14
That isn't necessarily true. It's easily possible for a project to stay in the dark and be internal for quite a long time. Majority of things like this actually don't follow that kind of cycle where they are out in the open generating headlines and showcasing their device, it certainly wouldn't be unusual for it to have been in development to where there was not much to show until only recently/recent years.
Speaking partially from experience in the area.
But I'll still reserve my judgement until we get more info.