Haroldo Jacobovicz on Building Technology That Adapts to People, Not the Other Way Around
Most technology is designed to meet users where developers expect them to be, which often means where the most commercially attractive users already are. Haroldo Jacobovicz takes a different view. The founder of Arlequim Technologies has built his approach to computing around the principle that technology should adapt to people — their devices, their contexts, their levels of experience — not the reverse.
That philosophy shows up most directly in Arlequim’s core model. The company uses computer virtualization to allow older, lower-spec machines to run modern applications. Processing happens remotely; the output streams to the user’s screen. A device that would otherwise be obsolete for current software becomes capable again, without any hardware upgrade. The machine stops being a barrier and becomes, as Jacobovicz describes it, a window.
This is a meaningful design choice with practical consequences. Replacing older devices creates electronic waste and financial burden for households and institutions that already operate with limited resources. Virtualization sidesteps both problems. The user retains their existing hardware; the limitation is addressed in the infrastructure behind it.
The same logic applies to how he thinks about digital literacy. Teaching technical skills without addressing the full context of a person’s situation — their confidence level, their language, their prior experiences with technology — produces limited results. Inclusion requires designing for the user as they actually are, not as a developer imagines a competent user should be. That means accounting for the person who has never used a mouse, the one who has been scammed online, and the one who speaks a language that most software does not fully support.
Jacobovicz draws a clear line between digital literacy and digital empowerment. Literacy is a transaction: skills are transferred in a workshop or training session. Empowerment is what happens when those skills produce real change — a better job, access to healthcare information, the ability to help a child with schoolwork. One is a beginning; the other is a goal. Getting from the former to the latter requires sustained support, not a single intervention.
The model he describes — where technology serves everyone who needs it, where effective partnerships connect public and private resources, and where communities are participants, not passive recipients — depends on this foundational choice to build with people in mind from the start.
Most technology is designed to meet users where developers expect them to be, which often means where the most commercially attractive users already are. Haroldo Jacobovicz takes a different view. The founder of Arlequim Technologies has built his approach to computing around the principle that technology should adapt to people — their devices, their contexts,…