The proven technology mantra

It's an often repeated mantra among "product people" that:

When building something new, simple and proven technology wins.

Most recently it was recited by Mathias Meyer in his post The New Technology Fallacy. But, many others are saying something very similar, including Marco Arment.

The peculiar thing is, there is no amount of empirical evidence that would make it possible to disprove the logic of this mantra.

After all, we're talking about "proven technology", and if something new consistently worked better that would also be considered "proven technology".

It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Here's a better way of stating what I believe Mathias is conveying in his post:

If you need to get something done in a hurry, use the tools you already know.

However, if you have the time and the interest, there is no need to shy away from learning and working with new exciting technologies.

Who knows, you may end up proving a new technology.