Toasters vs. Computers
Although it’s tempting, this is not a tirade on Battlestar Galactica vs. Terminator’s Skynet. This is about computers and electronics and what they mean to you everyday.
It’s no secret that we are all becoming more reliant on computers each and every day. As our appliances and televisions become smarter, everything becomes a computer. Larger production means lower prices and now what used to be the realm of the geek enthusiast becomes a necessity in your home and office.
I have a theory: As computers become cheaper and cheaper to build and prices come down, they become no different to you than your toaster. Let me explain – unless you have a serious problem I don’t expect you to be making toast with your computer. If one day you wake up and stick a slice of bread in your toaster and it doesn’t come out warm and crispy, you go to the store and buy a new one. What would it cost you to replace a heating element in a toaster? Would you even be able to? Is the part available or can you even open the toaster up without breaking it completely?
Lately, I’ve seen a trend when I go to fix someone’s computer. Let’s call it disposable computers. If someone has a software problem – hardware works perfectly – I see it happen more and more that they junk the computer and just buy a new one. As computers become more of an appliance and less of a luxury, more and more people don’t have any idea how to fix them when things go wrong. They have no idea how to troubleshoot an error or reinstall the operating system. It becomes easier and sometimes less expensive to just buy a new one. For example, I had one client that had a hard drive go out. Once a new hard drive was ordered, the operating system was reloaded and updated; it was going to be about the same price to just buy a new computer. Now, as a self proclaimed geek who likes to play with these things, that idea makes me shudder.
Seriously, on a regular basis I see computers on sale for under $500 that are considerably more powerful than my day to day production machine (and no, it’s not an ancient boat anchor.) So, next time something breaks on your computer, will you fix it or just replace it? And then what do you do with the small server farm of old computers in the basement?
March 11, 2009