View source for Engineering:Bleeding edge technology

'''Bleeding edge technology''' is a category of [[Engineering:Technology|technologies]] so new that they could have a high risk of being unreliable and lead adopters to incur greater expense in order to make use of them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bleeding%20edge |title=bleeding edge. (n.d.) |website=Dictionary.com Unabridged |publisher=Random House |accessdate=12 September 2008}}</ref><ref name="Oz2008"/> The term ''bleeding edge'' was formed as an allusion to the similar terms "leading edge" and "cutting edge". It tends to imply even greater advancement, albeit at an increased risk because of the unreliability of the [[Software|software]] or [[Computer hardware|hardware]].<ref name="SchommerBroschart2010">{{cite book |author1=Ingo Schommer |author2=Steven Broschart |title=SilverStripe: The Complete Guide to CMS Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pKBbDyyiCokC&pg=PR22|year=2010|publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0-470-68270-8 |page=22}}</ref> The first documented example of this term being used dates to early 1983, when an unnamed banking executive was quoted to have used it in reference to [[Company:Storage Technology Corporation|Storage Technology Corporation]].<ref name=NYTimes>{{cite news |last=Hayes |first=Thomas C. |title=Hope at Storage Technology |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/21/business/hope-at-storage-technology.html |accessdate=10 September 2013 |newspaper={{wipe|The New York Times}} |date=21 March 1983}}</ref>

A proportion of bleeding edge technology makes it into the mainstream. For example, electronic mail (email) was once considered to be bleeding edge.<ref name="Infosystems">{{cite book |title=Infosystems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v1JUAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Hitchcock Pub. Co. |page=64}}</ref>

==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'' &ndash; competing ways of doing new things exist and there is little to no indication in which direction the market will go.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} By its very nature, consumers and firms will be unfamiliar with the product and its relationship to existing technologies,<ref name="Oz2008"/> leading to rapid changes in what is considered best practice as more becomes known about the technology's qualities.<ref name="SchommerBroschart2010"/>
*''Lack of testing'' &ndash; the technology may be unreliable,<ref name="Oz2008"/> or simply untested.<ref name="SchommerBroschart2010"/>
*''Industry resistance to change'' &ndash; 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|date=May 2011}}

==Costs and benefits==
The rewards for successful early adoption of new technologies can be great in terms of establishing a [[Finance:Comparative advantage|comparative advantage]] in otherwise competitive markets;<ref name="Oz2008">{{cite book |author=Effy Oz |title=Management Information Systems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fATar8Nn6HEC&pg=PA65|year=2008|publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=978-1-4239-0178-5 |page=65}}</ref> unfortunately, the penalties for "betting on the wrong horse" (e.g. in a [[Engineering:Format war|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|open-source software]], is especially common. Indeed, it is usual practice for open-source [[Software developer|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 it (beta testing). Therefore, users who want features that have not been implemented in older, more [[Software release life cycle#Release|stable releases]] of the software are able to choose the bleeding-edge version. In such cases, the user is willing to sacrifice stability, reliability, or ease of use for the sake of increased functionality.<ref name="Inc.2000">{{cite journal |last=Rikishi |first=Niramiai |title=Selling in the Bazaar: How Open Source Manages Code |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZpoOEa4kiSIC&pg=PA41 |journal=AAUGN |accessdate=9 November 2010 |date=December 2000 |publisher=AUUG, Inc. |page=41}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Social:List of emerging technologies|List of emerging technologies]]
*[[Social:State of the art|State of the art]]
*High end
*[[Engineering:Technology readiness level|Technology readiness level]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup - a nonfiction book by journalist John Carreyrou, 5/21/2018, about the rise and fall of the firm Theranos, the multibillion-dollar biotech fraud startup headed by Elizabeth Holmes.  Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

[[Category:Technological change]]

{{Sourceattribution|Bleeding edge technology|1}}