What trying new things gets you.
(Just so you know, I wrote most of this critque on modern business practices while eating at the Asian equivalent of Arbby's albeit a vegetarian one, though it would've been difficult to guess. It would be like eating at Arbby's and then having some guy tell you the food was actually meatless, it was not a good experience because Arbby's has crappy and undesirable food... not because it was meatless. Yes Virginia, it really was that bad.)
I'm constantly reminded how hype, image, and perception sell things in surprising quantity. I'd like to get a phone with wifi, a better spread sheet app, and better screen. Maybe a better calendar and somewhat smaller. Much like the car thing, I'd like a better one, but they don't make a better one. I know it's just a different take on "Problem 6" (article pending completion), but this is technology not the fantasy of an uncertain tomorrow.
When I bought a Riva TNT 10 years ago, it was the shit. In 18 months, it was passable and the GeForce 1 came out. The Riva worked well enough, but the Geforce was so much better it legendary. While I dreamed of the GeForce, the Riva got me by well enough until 18 months later the GeForce 2 came out, and it was the shit. There was never any question that the GeForce 2 was on a level that made the Riva a joke. I never owned the 3 or 4, but the 5 makes the 2 look like a calculator. That's how technology is supposed to work. The Riva was more than twice as good as my S3 Stealth, the GeForce was better twice again, while the GeForce 2 was four times better than the Riva and 8 times better than the Stealth. But in reality, it was better than that, because my CPU that I paired with the GeForce 2 was also four or more times then the one with the Riva. It's difficult to discern one generation to the next practically. If you have 10 frames per second and move to 20, you can tell for sure, but it's not a huge deal. When you're going from 10 frames per second to HDTV though, not only can you tell but the former is archaic backward by comparison. Do you know how many commercials (not product placement mind you) Nvidia has? I've seen 3 in the past 10 years.
That is my reality, and I accept it. What I can't accept is this marketing bullshit insanity. If you're at home watching your bought and paid for HDTV, and I come and try and sell you my 8 year old TV without a red Cathode you'd look at me like I was bat shit insane. If I say to you, "It's brand new! Just built it this October." You could have me committed. Apparently though, if I run enough commercials I can fool you into buying it.
I figured a new phone wouldn't be that much better, maybe a better camera, more memory... that sort of thing. I might have been able to handle the same power. I mean shit, the camera on my phone now is 0.3Mp and the Flip is 3Mp and it has wi-fi... I could handle equal processing power. But it's worse, worse in every way. The interface would be cumbersome even if it weren't almost comically slow. The calendar was so slow that I was certain I would actually have been better off writing my important dates on paper.
So my question is this: Why do people tolerate this? Why do people keep microsoft and these other peddlers of shit in business?
Windows is shit, everyone knows that. It's old shit, and it doesn't stink as bad as it used to, but it's still shit. Why do people put up with it? What has happened to us that we just accept the role of stooge from the Corporations?
I'm constantly reminded how hype, image, and perception sell things in surprising quantity. I'd like to get a phone with wifi, a better spread sheet app, and better screen. Maybe a better calendar and somewhat smaller. Much like the car thing, I'd like a better one, but they don't make a better one. I know it's just a different take on "Problem 6" (article pending completion), but this is technology not the fantasy of an uncertain tomorrow.
When I bought a Riva TNT 10 years ago, it was the shit. In 18 months, it was passable and the GeForce 1 came out. The Riva worked well enough, but the Geforce was so much better it legendary. While I dreamed of the GeForce, the Riva got me by well enough until 18 months later the GeForce 2 came out, and it was the shit. There was never any question that the GeForce 2 was on a level that made the Riva a joke. I never owned the 3 or 4, but the 5 makes the 2 look like a calculator. That's how technology is supposed to work. The Riva was more than twice as good as my S3 Stealth, the GeForce was better twice again, while the GeForce 2 was four times better than the Riva and 8 times better than the Stealth. But in reality, it was better than that, because my CPU that I paired with the GeForce 2 was also four or more times then the one with the Riva. It's difficult to discern one generation to the next practically. If you have 10 frames per second and move to 20, you can tell for sure, but it's not a huge deal. When you're going from 10 frames per second to HDTV though, not only can you tell but the former is archaic backward by comparison. Do you know how many commercials (not product placement mind you) Nvidia has? I've seen 3 in the past 10 years.
That is my reality, and I accept it. What I can't accept is this marketing bullshit insanity. If you're at home watching your bought and paid for HDTV, and I come and try and sell you my 8 year old TV without a red Cathode you'd look at me like I was bat shit insane. If I say to you, "It's brand new! Just built it this October." You could have me committed. Apparently though, if I run enough commercials I can fool you into buying it.
I figured a new phone wouldn't be that much better, maybe a better camera, more memory... that sort of thing. I might have been able to handle the same power. I mean shit, the camera on my phone now is 0.3Mp and the Flip is 3Mp and it has wi-fi... I could handle equal processing power. But it's worse, worse in every way. The interface would be cumbersome even if it weren't almost comically slow. The calendar was so slow that I was certain I would actually have been better off writing my important dates on paper.
So my question is this: Why do people tolerate this? Why do people keep microsoft and these other peddlers of shit in business?
Windows is shit, everyone knows that. It's old shit, and it doesn't stink as bad as it used to, but it's still shit. Why do people put up with it? What has happened to us that we just accept the role of stooge from the Corporations?