[AT] Technology Creep

[Howard Weeks]

Roy,

You are right - times and things are changing.  Sometimes, there are 
substantial improvements to be had; but, there are always "gotchas" 
if you look behind all the rhetoric, etc.  

These companies have to keep growing that revenue stream someway!

But, I am comitted to fighting them all the way.  I am in the process 
of changing my computers over to Linux and dumping MS for that 
reason.  A cell phone (to me) is just that - a box that I "talk" on, 
not surf the web on or for texting.  That is what I use the table top 
computer at home for.  If it gets bad enough, I will just go back to 
the way I survived before computers.  Guess it is obvious that I am 
getting old and maybe crotchity!

As others have said, we are rapidly moving toward a throw away 
society - regardless of cost.  I continue to be amazed at what people 
will pay for services and related "stuff" without ever questioning 
whether there is "value" there to justify the price.  The auto 
industry is a prime example of that.  

I really do believe in the potential value of all this new technology 
that is coming our way.  But I will never buy a lot of it under the 
business model that it being marketed under. 

Keep working on that W-4, it will still be repairable when all this 
so called modern and better stuff being sold today will have 
disappeared into the dump.

Emough of my ramblings!

Howard in GA

On 17 Jan 2011 at 19:59, Roy Morgan wrote:

> 
> On Jan 17, 2011, at 1:02 PM, Howard Weeks wrote:
> ( Atis outage - the details)
> 
> > ... effort ...  to get funtionality and data off our PCs and into
> > their paid (off site to us) domain.... There is no way in hell that
> > I am going to move in that direction.
> 
> Howard,
> 
> Hear, hear!
> I'm with you.  "Cloud computing"?  Sounds fuzzy and insubstantial to
> me.
> 
> But, consider this:   May it come to pass eventually that we have no 
> good alternative?  It is in the interest of the technology mavens if 
> we do use their "services".
> 
> - We now cannot avoid upgrading to the newest (or recent) operating 
> system for very long.  After a little while, our old, familiar system 
> works badly if at all on more and more "content".
> 
> - Almost no one can repair a new or recent car or tractor at home.  It
>  takes a $5,000 computer to just figure out what's wrong, and the 
> module needed may have to come by air from the Pacific Rim, or at the 
> very least from some distant city in the US.
> 
> - When I was a kid (1950's/60's) there were many mechanics who could 
> fix your car almost no matter what was wrong with it.  Now, even 
> getting a maintenance manual is expensive and not easy.  The internet 
> makes learning how things work easier, but each family of engines and 
> whole vehicles has become a specialty unto itself.
> 
> Here, I have a 1951 IHC W-4 tractor, with a suspected broken valve 
> spring or stuck lifter.  I expect to be able to fix it myself (with 
> good advice).  I also have a 2004 Ford F-250 diesel truck.  I never 
> expect to fix it myself.
> 
> Roy
> (Temps at 8 below zero F last night, warming trend expected up to the 
> mid teens!)
> 
> 
> Roy Morgan
> k1lky at earthlink.net
> K1LKY Since 1958 - Keep 'em Glowing!
> 
> 
> 
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Howard Weeks
Harlem, GA 
K5JCP