Klarinet Archive - Posting 000807.txt from 1999/11

From: Audrey Travis <vsofan@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Dichotomitis (rant)
Date: Sat, 20 Nov 1999 13:47:09 -0500

Boy, am I ever glad I bought an iMac. It was already Y2K friendly when I bought
it in August. Of course, with planned obsolescense (how the heck DO you spell
that word?!) it may not last too much past the new year, but at least I'll still
expect and look forward to getting the klarinet list on Jan. 1, 2000.

My clarinet, on the other hand, is a Buffet Vintage - love that old, unstained
wood look, and in the hands of a great master, (not me) it plays beautifully,
and will last well beyond the hoopla of the millenium.

It seems to me that a consumer revolution could help. Am I wrong, or did the
automobile industry not seriously pull up it's socks on both safety and built-in
obsolescense after Ralph Nader?

Lelia - you lead the way!

Cheers

Audrey

LeliaLoban@-----.com wrote:

> Kevin Fay wrote,
> >Most people buy Microsoft software for the same reason that most advanced
> clarinet players buy a Buffet R-13. Can you buy a better clarinet? Perhaps.
> You can certainly spend a whole lot more -- but the R13 seems to work pretty
> darned OK by the vast majority of professional clarinet players
> here in the U.S. >
>
> Mark Charette wrote,
> >>Software & computers are just tools, and like any artisan you try & pick
> the ones that will most likely solve a problem with the least amount of
> hassle. Until your customer insists that they know better than you ...>>
>
> Funny thing about that: My clarinets and my computers all work "pretty darned
> OK" right now, but one significant difference to me is that my clarinets will
> still work pretty darned OK on New Year's Day. My computers won't. I'm not
> blaming you guys for Borg policies I know you didn't mastermind -- but it's
> high time the consumer rebelled against the Collective.
>
> The computer has devolved from a promising tool into a *crappy* tool.
> Contrast the long-term performance of any major brand of computer with the
> long-term performance of any major brand of clarinet, including an
> inexpensive student clarinet. Would anybody put up with a clarinet that only
> lasted two years?
>
> I'm using my husband's geriatric (1998) laptop right now. Apparently there's
> a Y2K fix available for Windows 95, if he can ever gets around to looking for
> it, and if he can figure out how to implement the 1,475 (give or take a few
> hundred) easy instructions conveniently written in Propellerbeaniespeak. But
> I feel the footsteps of the TEOCAWKI monster shake the earth: Thump. Thump.
> Thump. It's coming this way. It's coming to get my desktop computer, a
> 486, such a fossil (4 whole years old!) that it uses Windows 3.1 and hasn't
> even got a modem. The fossil works fine for the word processing and CAD for
> which I need it. Too bad, because the TEOCAWKI monster plans to eat its guts
> for New Year's breakfast. I can either scrap it and replace it or scrap it
> and not replace it. Whoa, great choice. Not.
>
> According to an article by Rajiv Chandrasekaran on page 1 of the "Business"
> section of the Thursday, Nov. 18 issue of _The Washington Post_ (available
> online at www.washingtonpost.com), businesses and government agencies in the
> United States are already committed to spending more than US$100 billion on
> Y2K fixes. For comparison, we spent US$15.5 billion on the 1992 Hurricane
> Andrew, the most costly natural disaster ever to hit the U.S.A. So now the
> Borg are waiting for everybody to finish those obligatory Y2K fixes they've
> trapped us into, and as soon as we've paid for all that, they'll go,
> "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!", break out "improved" hardware and Windows 2000, and
> make the new computer obsolete, too. In 2001, they'll do it to us again, and
> we're such damned sheep that we'll probably let them.
>
> When will the consumer get mad as hell and not take it any more? I wish I
> could celebrate New Year's by heaving my old computer out my upstairs office
> window onto the concrete driveway at midnight and then *not* replacing the
> stupid machine. I don't plan to mark the Millennium with any other
> rollicking celebrations, because my husband has to stay alert and sober for
> work. He's on duty from December 31 through New Year's. Guess why.
>
> I wish I could revert to using my electronic typewriter, for which I can
> still buy parts and ribbons because the Borg can't see typewriters. I play a
> 1937 Bb clarinet and saxes made in the 1920s. My stove is a 1947 double oven
> range that's more energy-efficient than new ones, thanks to the massive
> construction. I never learned to drive a car. Somehow I survive in this
> technology-deprived manner because for these tasks, the old tools are *good*
> tools. But I can't survive without the !=#$%^&*! computer because my editors
> want my articles on diskettes.
>
> Now, I'm not a Luddite. IMHO, lots of recent technology is demonstrably
> better than vintage technology. The flush toilet, for instance, strikes me
> as a genuine upgrade from an outhouse. And in theory, I *like* computers,
> don't get me wrong. I bought my first computer, the original 64K IBM-PC,
> back in 1982. Back then, I could upgrade by adding something new to the old
> machine. That was a good tool, IMHO: not mature technology, but something
> new that evolved in ways that made sense -- until the Collective figured out
> it could force us to toss the whole system and start over every two years by
> making the new "improvements" incompatible with the old "improvements".
> Today I like reading the klarinet list, communicating with interesting people
> all over the world and all the rest of the goodies the Internet makes
> possible. But I've *had it* with being a willing victim, addicted to
> upgrades.
>
> What's going on with computers right now is planned obsolescence of the most
> cynical, manipulative kind. I want a tool that works for a reasonable amount
> of time until it breaks down for reasonable reasons. Two years to
> obsolescence means a criminal waste of natural resources expended in
> manufacturing this garbage and then turning it right around as another
> contribution to the solid waste disposal problem. I want the Borg to quit
> jerking the public around. For the price of replacing my computer, I could
> have bought a first-rate, used R-13.
>
> Lelia
> Unworthy of assimilation.
>
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