[wplug] OT: Down Memory Lane

[Matthew J. Hughes]

I would like to submit option 4: It just isn't engineered to last.
20-25 years ago the designer was still in the mindset that the computer 
needed to last. Now with the operating system life time less than seven 
years, let alone the application life. Engineers aren't interested in 
making it last forever. It only needs to work until you buy the new 
model. (or possibly management encourages that it should only last till 
the new model.) Starting during the nineties till today, your new 
purchase is destined for the rubbish bin. Most PC's obsoletion is 
something around 9-18 months. At which point the manufacturer can say 
your out of warranty and buy a new one. Which most consumers, 
unfortunately, accept. And considering the drop in prices and increase 
in performance (minus software bloat), why not? The majority of 
consumers, and they are what drives the market, want the fancy stuff the 
new machine is capable of. Personally, I have not used certain 
distributions because the hardware would not support the install. Not to 
mention trying to run your favorite desktop environment on an older PC. 
So in short the MTBF has decreased because Mean Time Before Expected 
Replacement has also dropped.

That is my theory and I am sticking to it, until something better comes 
along.
-Matt



beer wrote:

>On Sat, October 15, 2005 8:23 am, Christopher DeMarco said:
>  
>
>>1.  The stuff you get today has WAAAAAY more components than does Ye Olde
>>Stuffe, hence more more tickets in the MTBF lotto.
>>
>>2.  It's possible that the huge market growth has brought with it shoddy
>>goods - whereas twenty years ago a mfg of crap might have been too obvious
>>to survive, perhaps today the pool is big enough to obscure (or the
>>mass-market ignorant enough to not identify) poor-quality goods.
>>
>>My money's riding on #1, though.
>>    
>>
>
>I'd say its a little from column A and a little from column B...
>
>:)
>
>_______________________________________________
>wplug mailing list
>wplug at wplug.org
>http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>
>  
>