How Bout a courtesy lick once in a while technology?

[McMouse]

You know, i was once a positive and happy guy when it comes to tech. But this last year has just made me feel like i should become like my crazy vegan friend; no Computer, no console, a basic phone and as little tech as possible. Just one thing after another this year has annoyed me, cheated me, or cost me money and not in the "wow that looks cool, please take my money" way.

It all started quietly enough, but first.. My PS3 decided it no longer wants to run my Linux (I know this isn't new, but the court case just ended.) Then a little while later it just decided to die anyway due to its laughable security and a bunch of meddling kids. Not to mention Homefront and Modern warfare 2 (yay tacticool dual shotguns) but thats my own mistake, I should have known better.

then my Phone jumped on the fuck you bandwagon, luckily i was with my loyal and competent company RIM. So immediately its data service died for a few days, and to make up for it they sent me a bunch of garbage i'll never use and simcity.... fun until it lags my phone to death. Now if the hardware wasn't just delightful enough, i find a competitor for the phone company coming in at a third of the price of telus. Now I'm still about a year from the contract folding, i just love getting bent over by big companies, it makes me feel good and properly used.

Now after this im going to reformat my "safe and secure" Mac, so it can run without lagging again. Admittedly i Miss Jobs, at least he told me he was out for my money.

Am I the only one this garbage happens to? i just feel like one thing after another is either wrecked or disabled.

you think im Whinny? fair enough, im usually pretty stoic, but i just read about the decision to let sony sell me something then disable it most useful systems a few months in.

If you want share you bad days or weeks when just one POS piece of tech you depended on after another shuts down, hell it'll at least let me know im not the only one electronics are allergic to.

 

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Lost a GPU, a HDD(was fun trying to salvage as much data as I could from it, as it circled the drain) and a couple of 360's(but who hasn't?)...that's about it.

I suspect "planned obsolescence" plays a role, though...not so much in tech. Progress renders consumer-electronics obsolete before internal failure does most of the time.

 

[launchpadmcqwak]

but...what will you play "the old republic" on?!?!?!?!?!?

 

[Dosbilliam]

Probably nothing, because not everyone is waiting for EA's lastest cash grab.

 

[Zantos]

I know what you mean, I had to go through a few shitty phones before I settled with my Samsung Galaxy S, which has depreciated faster than a bloody Bentley. Plus the computer keeps wanting upgrading, the PSU exploded on me early this year, the graphics cards are so hit and miss, and it seems to think that if it keeps chewing on more and more RAM I'll buy it some more. Bloody technology.

Luckily the 360 and PS3 have been more or less obedient, even if they are terminally stupid.

 

[Rednog]

Meh technology gets more and more complex and it unfortunately gets easier to break at the same time.
Putting together a new PC, got a powersupply that blew out my old mother board...yay I have to but a new motherboard. Ordered a new board, not only was it DOA, but one of the SATA cables that came with it was cheap and the cheap tin pin on it got jammed in my harddrive sata port and I couldn't remove it without damaging the plastic case. So not only did I have to RMA the motherboard but the Harddrive too.
And a kicker is that for replacing my old board I had to order one of those newer smaller boards for my older processor and for some reason the decided to change the screw spacing so now my old processor fan doesn't fit the screw holes and I basically had to just jam the fan into like 2 screw holes instead of 4 and pray that it doesn't tear itself apart under load.

 

[Snotnarok]

I think you might be looking too much at the present or future and forgetting these devices helped you then and there. That's like getting mad at buying a PS3 and 10 years later seeing them in gamestop for 50 bucks. "MAN I PAID 600 FOR THAT!"

 

[Hell-On-Wheels]

Shit happens, people complain, and then move on. It's quite the regular occurance. I don't think you are that whiny about it (you post would probably be much, much longer if you were.)

Personally, I haven't had the domino effect of depended-on tech happen to me.However, some of my friends have been less fortunate. One had a PC that wouldn't turn on. Sounds like a simple fix, unless you take into account that most of the motherboard capacitors have popped and oozed over everything, including his hard drive. That bit the dust soon after. A couple of weeks later, his phone went for a swim. Where, you might ask? The bottom of a porta-potty. Along with his car and house keys, but that is beside the point.

 

[SyphonX]

It's kinda based on the Babylonian debtor's slavery system. Basically you produce cheap-quality, over-stressed products so they inevitably fail and either force you to purchase anew, or spend more money fixing it. Either that, or you get off the wagon, like your friend there.

As we go further into the digital age, this is far more prevalent and obvious. Everyone's heard the story about your car breaking down "Just over" the mileage warranty....

Well whats the point you ask? The point is, if you want to keep people labored, you have to do it out of free-will, not compulsory. If you market to the public that they need 'this and that' and every new thing that's released (it's drilled into via advertisements and peer-pressure "gotta have it" necessity), then you MUST spend a Lot of money. You must continue working, you must continue accepting scraps for wages, or you negotiate to yourself that you must be a scoundrel, and step-over other people and coworkers to achieve a higher slave's wage.

Self-fulfilling slavery policy....

That is my two cents, and humble opinion. Your mileage may vary, but your luck runs out sooner or later.