next generation (thing)

next generation, adj.
The current generation, incompatible and with updated buzzwords, and optionally vapour. The "next generation":

• doesn't work, because it is woefully underpowered to live up to its empty promises (its proponents invariably explain this away as being due to the desire to "speed marketplace adoption");
• wouldn't be much use even if it worked, as it is more expensive than the current generation;
• doesn't work, due to bugs and ambiguities in the standard;
• doesn't work, due to bugs in the newly-developed implementations, which were rushed;
• doesn't work, as the infrastructure required to support it doesn't exist yet (it will exist in the next generation);
• is essential for life as we know it to continue!

The "next generation" exists only to give almost-finished systems a bad name. A later "2.01" release will fix the worst problems, and if it gets that far, the "2.1" release may actually be usable!

The next generation is the brand new graphics board with no games (or even stable drivers) out yet. It is the Internet2-enabled cellphone in a world without WAP or WML. It is the first alcohol-powered motorcar in your city. It is the videodisk player which doesn't have any titles. Or the BBC's 1986(?) electronic Domesday Book, which can only be used on a BBC Master microcomputer with a videodisk player which is too expensive to exist. It is the self heating coffee tin, the paper battery (or paper light), the home totally wired with co-ax BNC connections a few months before Ethernet goes CAT-5.

Sometimes, the next generation actually comes to pass. But never with its launch. Sit it out. Either buy the current generation, or wait 2 years and buy that current generation.