Self-Serving Studies, and Fiscally Sensitive Alternatives

An Apple-backed study recently reported its results (additional commentary by Macworld Magazine), revealing productivity gains for workers staring at leading-edge 30" displays as compared to more conventionally-sized 17" and 19" units. I'm sure Apple's status as a leading display supplier had nothing to do with its sponsorship motivations or the report's conclusions, right? Ahem. Granted, LCDs are getting less expensive with passing time, but the exponentially increasing cost of large diagonal dimension LCDs (analogous to the exponentially higher cost of larger semiconductor chip dice) will always disproportionably burden them versus more diminutive alternatives. And strangely enough, the study didn't investigate two other more cost-effective productivity-enhancing alternatives: multiple small side-by-side displays, and multiple virtual desktops within a single display. Wonder why?

Remember, folks: Always assess the monetary and other aspirations of a company before you peruse its literature and other materials. Doing so will enable you to interpret the conclusions in a more….meaningful manner. 'Nuff said.

Followup: Here's what another skeptic says about Apple's 'study'.