> What's wrong is periodically pulling the rug out from under customers
> to force them to "upgrade". You know, in most states in the US, it's
> a crime that results in prison time for an auto mechanic to tell a
> customer that s/he needs a "repair" that s/he doesn't really need, or
> to deliberately break something in order to charge a fee to fix it.
>
> But software vendors get away with this kind of crap all the
> time--more or less in collusion with hardware vendors. IMO, it's a
> moral crime, even if it isn't (yet) a statutory one.
Your kidding right? People upgrade because they want something new. If I'm
wrong why does the automotive industry keep pumping out a newer better
version of everything year after year?
You can't go back in time and purchase new a former vehicle say a 2001, or
for that matter a washing machine. So why is the software industry getting
away with anything?
Because software doesn't wear out. It always does what it always
did--without any upkeep whatsoever. As long as it does what people need it
to do, they have no intrinsic need to replace it. In the vast majority of
cases involving commonly used software applications, the reason why people
think they need to replace it is because they've been lied to by software
marketers who falsely claim that the new version contains something of
substance that is really new and different, or because those marketers have
deliberately broken the software so it won't continue to run if the user
buys into their hype and replaces their OS--or simply buys a new computer
and, not being particularly savvy (nor desirous of being savvy) about their
options, is more or less forced by the vendor to accept a new OS.
Hardware performance gains are largely a mirage--with the exception of
computer games. For other kinds of applications, the hardware performance
improvements get eaten up. You know--we're constantly hearing how "disk
storage is cheap" and "processor cycles are cheap"; developers cut their
costs by reducing their efforts to optimize their code, so their new stuff
doesn't really run any faster on new hardware. I'm not blaming them for
this; I do it myself. But the notion that if you buy all new hardware and
software, you're going to see things run a lot faster just isn't valid.
Another big chomper of hardware speed is the increasing obsession with eye
candy in what should be straightforward business applications that should
not be trying to entertain users.
Then there's the issue of computers, which contain a whole lot of toxic
chemicals and non bio-degradable plastic, becoming throwaway commodities.
It's quite possible to make computers that don't break down. The price
point would be quite a bit higher than what we see now, but then, you'll
only ever need to buy one.
Ken Dibble
www.stic-cil.org
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