Big changes are well underway in how software gets packaged and delivered. But even relatively modern takes on packaging goods and services for sale and consumption go back hundreds of years. In this talk, Gordon Haff will take you on a whirlwind tour of packaging. What forms has packaging taken? What problems were being solved? What kinds of trade-offs need to be made? What lessons can we learn? The goal is to step back from specific technology and consider the fundamental objectives and solutions involved in moving from disaggregated one-off things to bundled, standardized, or homogenized packaged goods. And don’t worry. This isn’t another talk about container ships.

1. A SHORT HISTORY OF PACKAGING
FROM THE UTILITARIAN TO THE EXPERIENTIAL
GORDON HAFF @ghaff
Technology Evangelist, Red Hat
26 January 2017

2. WE DON’T NEED NO PACKAGING

3. ENIAC
PROGRAMMING

6. Appert jar - 1810
De Girard tin can - 1811
Can opener - 1855
American Can Company -
1901
PRESERVING
FOOD

7. Barrels
Wooden boxes
Corrugated paper - 1871
PROTECTING
SHIPMENTS

10. https://stopdisablingselinux.com/

11. TRANSACT
STANDARDS
ROMAN WINE
Amphora quadrantal = 39 liters

16. 1974
Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio

17. PRODUCTS AS PACKAGES
Henry Ford

18. SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
Dependencies
Testing
Delivery
Updates
Documentation
Support

19. ISV INDUSTRY
Cincom, 1968
Thomas M. Nies
Tom Richley
Claude Bogardus

20. General store
1800s

21. A & P
Founded 1859
Self-service 1930s

22. Condensed milk - 1856

23. Paperboard carton - 1817
Corn Flakes - ~1906

24. Hills Brothers coffee - 1900

25. Beer bottles
Beer cans - 1935

26. What it’s for
How to use
Warnings
Product comparisons
Complementary products

27. Help
Documentation
Blogs
Books
Demos
Conferences
“Playbooks,” manifests, etc.

28. US nutrition facts label
Mandated by FDA 1990

30. Sherley Amendment prohibits
labeling medicines with false
therapeutic claims in 1912 (US)

32. INTEGRATE
&
BUNDLE

34. FORTUNATELY WE DON’T DO THAT IN SOFTWARE
So you want to DevOps some containers do you?

35. "Packaging is no longer simply about packaging the object—it is
about the unboxing experience and art directing. This is where
the process starts for designers today: you work backward from
the Instagram image to the unboxing moment to the design that
serves it."
Grant Wenzlau

37. PROJECTS TO INTEGRATED PLATFORMS

38. Display ads
Classified ads
Crossword puzzles
Wire service news
Sports
Weather
Investigative journalism
Photos
Comics
Celebrity gossip
Bird cage lining
THE BUNDLE: (MOSTLY) FAVORS SELLER

39. TYING IN TECH
Various IBM-related anti-trust cases
Pre ~1983 AT&T phones leased by local
Bell operating companies
Data General v. Digidyne (1985)
Microsoft Internet Explorer
DRMd ink cartridges

40. BUT MAY NOT WANT

41. WHILE PRESERVING FREEDOM TO TINKER

42. SOFTWARE’S
PACKAGED
TENSION
Open source enables
unbundling
SaaS aggressively
bundles
(See also SOG’s The Future of Open Source, June 2016)

44. CREDITS
Amphora: Wikipedia, Ad Meskens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphora#/media/File:Amphorae_stacking.jpg
Barrel jump: http://www.mountainlifemedia.ca/2014/02/olympic-wish-list-bring-back-the-barrel-jump/
Hunter/gatherer: http://missinghumanmanual.com/?p=777
Floppy disks: George Chernilevsky, Wikipedia
Casks: http://www.drinkingcup.net/understanding-maturation-part-1-know-your-casks/
Appert canning jar: Jean-Paul Barbier/Wikipedia
Tin can: Sun Ladder/Wikipedia
Cat in peanuts: Mitsy McGoo https://www.flickr.com/photos/scmtngirl/92218305
Coke bottle:
https://medium.com/digital-packaging-experiences/the-anatomy-of-product-packaging-c746a7d659
7d#.hqiwvnn3g
iPhone: iLounge
IKEA/GM: Motifake.com

45. CREDITS
Unit pricing: ABC
Open source vs. cloud - Illuminata
Brand Promise: http://www.watermelonsocial.com/brandpromise/
Model T: Wikimedia
Kegs: Micromatic