From: Shannon Stoney (sstoney@pdq.net)
Date: 02/12/03-09:17:31 AM Z
John wrote,
>This entire discourse raises a new awareness for me--something having to do
>with increasing complexity and decreasing satisfaction in advancing
>technology.
I've been thinking some of the same thoughts. Also, I was thinking
that with digital technology, you are constantly having to trade up,
getting new cameras, new scanner, new printer, and having to work out
a new work flow for the new stuff. Some of this fiddling around is
fun, but it's expensive. If you get one new thing, like a new
computer, sometimes your old peripherals don't work with it any more,
and you have to get all new other things. But cameras from the
twenties still work. You don't have to buy a new one every little
whipstitch, and when you sell old technology, like an old SLR, you
get a good price for it. If I tried to sell my old imac today, it
might be worth $100 (or even less because the modem connection is
broken). The digital technology salespeople have figured this out.
All they have to do is invent a new operating system, and presto,
your old software and old digital camera won't work any more. What
are the chances that the cheap little digital camera I bought a year
or so ago will be worth ANYTHING in ten years, or work with any
computer? Argh.
--shannon
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