Printers

Printers realize Supply

'A Printer' usually refers to a machine that can print PDFs on paper. But, if you are generous with your interpretations, these are all printers:

A printer should be deterministic, producing the same output given the same input file

Files

Files encode Demand

Printers provide a file spec to describe possible outputs. It's up to apps to generate spec-compliant files based on user input.

Future of Markets

Specific Demand is Good

Printers allow for buyers to codify their demand specifically. This is a huge leap forward from selecting products comparatively in the marketplace.

Predictible Supply is Good

Supply scarcity limits the amount of tangible options a market can offer. Printers circumvent this by creating predictible input -> output machines: a buyer can browse 'virtual' outputs before deciding on the one to print.

So what?

File formats tend to be very complex, and users can only see a fraction of the possibility space. The role of tailored applications is to provide users with the choices they care about: no more, no less.

AI can automate almost everything, but it can't tell you want you want. Users will always want what they want. Niche parametric editors that provide a tight feedback loop to generate highly specific file formats for printers will always be valuable.