Moving back to Finland?

[AldenG]

Actually I don't pay attention to retailers at all. They just aren't on my radar. Much of the drama in their doings is ultimately not very good for the world. I suppose you could call what IKEA did a form of innovation and they continue to do it better than other chains that serve the poor. The revelation for me about IKEA in Sweden was that having no money didn't mean people had to buy stuff that looked entirely like crap. It was the possibility of enabling of a measure of dignity within poverty. And I recognized the value in that. America at the time had nothing like that in retailing. That (even more than the flat pack) was the new idea that Kamprad introduced to the world and much of the reason for his success. Of course it wasn't just IKEA; the concept was central to the entire Social Democratic ethic of the time. Still, mercantile fortunes have come and gone for centuries and there's nothing particularly innovative about them for the most part.

Although Gates had (back when he was in the tech biz) high technological acumen, he was the business brain. The real tech brain behind Microsoft was Paul Allen. It would be interesting to see what Allen might have achieved in terms of technological innovation at Microsoft if he had not been forced by his health to change direction at a critical time of his life and Microsoft's life. But Microsoft as innovator? It was mostly known for a so-so BASIC compiler and an 8080/Z-80 assembler before the fateful visit from IBM the day Gary Kildall decided to blow off his scheduled meeting with IBM. MS wasn't yet doing anything very interesting, in other words.

Microsoft then became a phenomenally successful enterprise, yes, and a pivotal populizer of personal computing. But to me Microsoft is the quintessential Siemens of the computer business, borrowing and buying its innovation from others, doing some things better and some worse than others, but a commercial phenomenon, a business shark (or whale) if you will, not a technological phenomenon. What Microsoft did to "create" MS-DOS became the paradigm for almost innovation the company has offered thereafter. I am a Windows and Linux guy, not an Apple guy, but I don't kid myself about where the post-Unix innovation in computers came from. It was people like Jobs and Wozniak. I mean Unix is brilliant and Linux even better and both were created by people with full and elite educations. With Linux as with IKEA, the real change to the landscape came from the incidental thing: the concept of open source rather than the "product" itself.

But after Unix and already simultaneous with Unix, innovation in computers started coming mostly from people working outside that mold. I remember at the dawn of the microcomputer revolution how hopelessly out of step the university computer programs appeared -- mired in statistics, calculation, the "computability questions," and big iron. To do the really exciting stuff we were starting to make computers do, we hired mostly people from non-CS curricula. They were better programmers and much more creative.

European innovation when it occurs tends to be incremental. And cautious and very well engineered. American innovation in the last century was more of the turn-everything-you-thought-you-knew-upside down type, though it can often use some refinement from more disciplined practitioners. And there in a nutshell is the cultural difference between the northern EU and the USA. The EU gives you the security to be creative. The US gives you the opportunity to be creative.

There are certain ways to do things or achieve things in Finland and there's very little room for improvisation. There is almost infinite room for life improvisation in the US. (Though it helps a lot these days if your immigration status is legal.) I'd still prefer to live in Helsinki but the moment isn't ripe.

[AldenG]

I hear there have been big changes in how visa overstays are processed.

I thought you just walked up and said hola, yo qiero el amnesty

No, you kind of have to deliver a baby right there on the floor before they can drag you back across the yellow line marking the border.

[Adrian42]

European innovation when it occurs tends to be incremental. And cautious and very well engineered. American innovation in the last century was more of the turn-everything-you-thought-you-knew-upside down type, though it can often use some refinement from more disciplined practitioners. And there in a nutshell is the cultural difference between the northern EU and the USA. The EU gives you the security to be creative. The US gives you the opportunity to be creative.

Venture capital gives you in the US the opportunity to run a business that is not profitable for years.
And in Europe you might more often be innovative while being an employee than starting your own company based on the innovation.

But lack of innovation in Europe?
No matter whether you think of coffee filters, jet planes or mp3 - these are just some random examples of genuinely German inventions of the last century.

[Pursuivant]

The revelation for me about IKEA in Sweden was that having no money didn't mean people had to buy stuff that looked entirely like crap. It was the possibility of enabling of a measure of dignity within poverty.

Well, I was to IKEA when I was redoing my flat and thinking a lot of furniture, and while some of the stuff was crappy, you're right it did have somewhat of an elegance. Then I was drunk tetering some street in Helsinki centre and walked past some fancy-schmancy "design" shop. The very same chest of drawers in the window as in IKEA to the dot, only a 0 end in the price tag...

The thing is though I like old stuff, but if I get a chance to do a flat/sudio here, I'll go all 70's "modern" style, wonder if IKEA sells those balloon chair knockoffs...

[BlakkMaggik]

well thanks..

[Rob A.]

Very nice posts, Alden...I'm convinced you must be some sort of alter-ego of me... exactly how I would have explained things...except you're so much more articulate...

I think to a large extent the USA will reflect back to you the view you take of it...but there are a few caveats ...you do have to maintain a presence of mind and you can't expect to just go and live anywhere....you have to find those little niches and enclaves that support your view of the world.... Well something like that.

Whenever I go to the US...maybe about once a year, once I get through border and get to my destination, I'm always pleasantly reminded just how nice the USA really can be....but you do have to pick your spots.

And I like your rather arrogant, condescending shot at retailers..... I think that last thing the world needs is more "innovative retailers".... Only the shareholders should be impressed by them...."Buy low and sell high"....that age-old maxim of the merchant....

[Rob A.]

... and while some of the stuff was crappy, you're right it did have somewhat of an elegance.

Yeah...well...I kind of like IKEA stuff....fresh, practical and cheap.... It does the job well....but, yes, some of their stuff can be quite crappy...so you have to be a bit picky.

The fact it has no snob appeal will not, nevertheless, stop me from buying it....

[AldenG]

Yeah...well...I kind of like IKEA stuff....fresh, practical and cheap.... It does the job well....but, yes, some of their stuff can be quite crappy...so you have to be a bit picky.

The fact it has no snob appeal will not, nevertheless, stop me from buying it....

We have an office full of it, and (to my surprise) even quite well-to-do clients and people in creative fields are highly complimentary of the overall decor and feeling. Of course that's more than just the furniture. And IKEA has evolved quite a bit since I first saw it in Sweden. Still, there is a certain comic jolt to seeing Mercedes, BMWs, Audis, Acuras (haven't seen any Rollers or Bentleys yet) parked in IKEA's basement with the owners standing in long checkout lines upstairs at what is not enormously different from the Swedish version of a Big Lots or Walmart furniture outlet if Walmart had such a thing.