Atoms Are Not Bits; Wired Is Not A Business Magazine

The whole point of the original article is that changing technologies are allowing smaller scale businesses to enter markets that were previously denied to them. It's _not_ about changing how existing hobby industries work. The author has failed to look beyond the hobbyist examples used in the Wired article.

It's also about being able to enter niche markets that larger manufacturers aren't interested in. There are plenty of markets that require a high standard of complexity in both design and manufacturing, yet are too small for larger companies to care about. As the cost of both drops, so it becomes more viable.

Also, despite the author's disparaging remarks, being able to do small scale runs in China is significant, because not so long ago this was _inconcievable_ for many businesses.

It's fair to bash Wired for the hyperbole -- it's not a revolution yet -- but Giz's critique is shallow and doesn't address the basic argument; that the lowered cost has increased access to equipment and skills for industrial design and manufacture. That this change will lead to greater numbers of smaller businesess operating in new niche markets, or markets otherwise previously denied to them because of scale.

This is where I live. I am a small business or two. I have been building my own CNC machines. I manufacture a niche product.

The comments on this article are mostly regurgitated economist speak, efficiency figures prominently. The fact of the matter is, efficiency means one group gets as much of the pie as possible.

There are lots of people and they all need to earn a living. Big business strives for efficiency and they lay people off, because they are efficient. You however are unemployed.

Small businesses are only going to grow in number and the amazing thing about this phase that we are in is that sophisticated tools are becoming widely available. That means that small businesses will be able to produce more and more sophisticated products, creating more jobs as a result of this terrible inefficiency.

The future looks like this: Commodities and niche products.