NY Times, How to Improve It? Ask Those Who Use It:
It is a difficult idea for research and development departments to accept, but one of his studies found that 82 percent of new capabilities for scientific instruments like electron microscopes were developed by users.
…Apache, the popular open-source Web server software, or the Firefox Internet browser, with its thousands of add-ons and plug-ins, also depend on users to develop innovations.
This is a frequent theme over at Strategyst, Inc, most recently in this post:
…just 36 hours after launch, 37 Signals has made (not announced… made) significant changes to the product and pricing based on early user feedback.
The article also references Eric Von Hippel of MIT’s Sloan School of Management, mentioned today in vinayak’s post: We are smarter!
