On Digital Steroids

Since when did we say it was alright to feed performance-enhancing drugs to our sweet, little computers? Everywhere I look, each application boasts that it is like another application, yet much better (and apparently muscled and covered in veins). My new product is like your product...on steroids.

I think I require a more creative way to describe new technology. Let's develop an amazing new way of talking about computer topics. Some hyper-detailed way of telling others about digital news. Like exposition...on steroids.

A simple Google search for the term "on steroids" with qualifying words such as "digital" or "computer industry" reveals over two million mentions.

This month, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that WiMax has been called a "WiFi on Steroids".

Forbes magazine has described LinkedIn as "networking on steroids." I've been to plenty of business networking events and, believe me, the last thing I want to see is this crowd in some amped-up state. They are bad enough on martinis.

This all gets more surreal when talking about Web 2.0 companies with funny names. "Pownce is kinda like Twitter but on Steroids." See what I mean?

Complicating the comparison further is the tendency to compare a product to another product that has already claimed to be like a third product on steroids. For example, if "Google Video is like Flickr on steroids", and "Flickr is like iPhoto on steroids", then is Google Video like iPhoto on a double dose of steroids? And if Zooomr is "a Flickr on steroids", does that mean that Zoomr is taking steroid with Google?

We all know what happens after years of steroid use. People become cranky, violent and begin to degenerate. Is that what will happen to our hardware and software? Don't do digital drugs!