创新就要勇于尝试

    微软（Microsoft）的Kinect就很好地呈现了改造性利用释放出的巨大潜力。2010年11月，微软推出了Kinect，作为Xbox产品的延伸。Kinect为Xbox游戏玩家带来了一项很酷的功能，取消了所有的手持游戏柄，玩家自己就是操控器。微软和“酷”不沾边已有多年。但Kinect就是酷。

    微软最初推出Kinect时仍带有其根深蒂固的专有产品意识，这也在预料之中。你可以和Xbox 打包买入Kinect，也可以作为单独配件买入，用于原有的Xbox上，Kinect售价150美元。虽然微软把Kinect当做一款产品，但全球科技发烧友视其为一种能力。对于科技发烧友而言，Kinect是一种能让人尖叫的强大能力，可以改造破解后用于新用途，不再只是Xbox的延伸。区区150美元，太便宜了。这是科技发烧友梦寐以求的东西。

    然后他们开始对Kinect进行破解。很多制造商、编程员、机器人专家以及其他各类科技发烧友开始探索除了微软最初的设想，Kinect还能干些什么。这只是个时间问题，迟早我们会看到新的基于人体动作的应用软件和平台，比如基于人体动作的医疗保健和教育应用软件。

    微软最初的反应是预期之中的——反对。一开始，这家公司声称，不能容忍对其产品的破解，威胁要对破解者采取法律行动。想想苹果公司。不过，我还是要称赞微软几句，随着市场对Kinect的热情显著上升，销售开始飙升，上市后首月这款运动传感设备的销量就达到了250万台，这家公司开始信奉开放的创新教派。好吧，这么说也许有点夸张，但微软不再威胁要对破解者采取法律行动，至少公开接受了破解者探索Kinect新用途的热情。微软有望再次变得很酷！

    “破解”能力可以创造出新的价值源泉，找到解决当今社会所面临各种挑战的办法。我们应该鼓励对现有能力的改造型利用，让破解者能更容易地创造奇迹。我们需要尝试更多的东西。创新者，改造破解。永远不要停止尝试。

    本文改编自索尔•卡普兰的《商业模式创新工厂》（The Business Model Innovation Factory）。他是位于美国罗德岛州Providence 的Business Innovation Factory 的创始人和首席促进者，定期更新博客It's Saul Connected。

    译者：早稻米

    A good example of the power and potential of hacking capabilities is Microsoft's (MSFT) Kinect. Microsoft introduced Kinect in November 2010 as a product extension to its Xbox franchise. Kinect adds a very cool capability for Xbox game players by getting rid of the hand held game controller and turning players into their own controllers. Microsoft and cool haven't been used in the same sentence for a long time. Kinect is cool.

    Microsoft predictably launched Kinect with it's deeply ingrained proprietary product mind set. You could buy Kinect as a bundle with an Xbox or as a separate component to attach to an existing Xbox for $150. While Microsoft views Kinect as a product the global geek community views it as a capability. To geeks, Kinect is a powerful capability screaming to be hacked and repurposed for exciting new uses beyond its use as an Xbox extension. What a bargain for only $150. It's a hackers dream.

    And hack they will. A crowd of makers, programmers, roboticists, and other assorted and sundry geeks are having at it to explore what Kinect can enable beyond Microsoft's initial intention. It's only a matter of time before we see new gesture based applications and platforms. How about gesture based health care and education applications to start?

    Microsoft's initial knee-jerk reaction was as expected, negative. Initially the company was caught flat-footed saying it didn't condone product tampering and threatened legal action against hackers. Think, Apple (AAPL). However, I have to give Microsoft some credit, once market enthusiasm for Kinect became clear and sales starting taking off with 2.5 million of the motion sensors sold within the first month after launch, the company began to get open innovation religion. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration, but Microsoft stopped threatening hackers with legal action and at least publicly embraced hacker enthusiasm to explore new uses for Kinect. Maybe there is hope that Microsoft can be cool again!

    Hacking capabilities can unleash new sources of value and solutions for many of the social system challenges we face today. We should encourage capability hackers and make it easier for them to work their magic. We need to try more stuff. Innovators, hack away. Experiment all the time.

    This piece is adapted from The Business Model Innovation Factory. Saul Kaplan is the author of, The Business Model Innovation Factory. He is the founder and chief catalyst of the Business Innovation Factory (BIF) in Providence, RI, and blogs regularly at It's Saul Connected.