Radical constraints can lead to breakthroughs in simplicity and entirely new things

Evan gave a talk on this at Le Web 3.0. It was short and sweet. I liked it, it makes the point well. Found the video online: <a href="http://light.vpod.tv/?s=0.0.392057" rel="nofollow">http://light.vpod.tv/?s=0.0.392057</a>

I agree that this is the potentially "hottest" statement from the story. Yet only two examples are given: Google and Twitter. Taking away the clutter around the search box was a good idea, but wasn't Google's real innovation something like counting links to pages to judge their significance? The Twitter example is better, but one example is not enough to make the case. Are there others?

The idea that constraints are a key to creativity is hardly new, but it is valid.<p>"... breakthroughs in simplicity and entirely new things", though? A tad inane.