Comments on: The first PC I ever built

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 07 Nov 2003 20:58:00 +0000

My take on the video card thing, from July:
http://keith721.dyndns.org/archives/2003_07.html#000052

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Nov 2003 15:37:52 +0000

Amen brother David.

I am 33 years old, I have made a living for the last 15 years directly from hardware, software, and web specific careers. I built my first PC in 1987, it had pre IDE drives, lots of IRQ issues, and no mouse. It was for my church and they had NO idea what they were doing, and wondered why I kept asking what their timeframe for completion was. It took about 3 days and it worked.

Now I have a 23 year old friend that works as a Admin, has never used a computer with PnP or a mouse telling me what I need to buy when I build my next PC. I need that video card because its specs are better then that one and how NO one uses THAT card anymore.

Real simple dude, chill. I know what I want in a system. I want to play Medal of Honor without having to go through hades to get the video card to work with my motherboard, and I do not have any plans to do any "super video bla bla" anytime soon. I know that if anything goes south it will be me fixing it. If I want a video card (or a sound card, or a motherboard) that cost a few dollars more, or is a less popular brand, because I like the drivers, web site, and support from that company then I will buy it.

Just because you use a computer and work in the business does not mean that you know what every other person needs in a system, what hardware they should buy, and how they should build it.

Keep your hands off my PC!!!!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 21:05:19 +0000

My wife’s told me for years, I don’t know everything. Now Dave has joined in.
I forsee a depressive tailspin.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 16:47:38 +0000

You mean I *don't* know everything?

I hate it when my ego bursts so early in the morning...

Hope your feeling better soon. Registration's okay by me.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 11:51:37 +0000

Economics definitely drives this bus. It’s all part of a trend in which technology is used to make sophisticated, technical jobs “do-able” by minimally trained (and lower paid) technicians. It minimzes the number of truly knowledgable (higher paid) people required for any one site which effects an increasing supply of knowledgable people relative to the positions available – hence driving down the cost (or pay) of an expert technician. Conceptually this dumbing down is just an extension of the philosphy you see at any store checkout where the cashier isn’t even required to figure change anymore. In almost all industries I think the trend is to use technology where-ever possible to remove or minimize the individual as a critical component of any process. The sad part is, as requirements drop, so do expectations and many times drive and motivation as well. What increases oddly is frustration a further examinations into using technology to solve “the problem”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 07:02:13 +0000

You're right. It's the same reason people toss power supplies without checking the fuses.

It's economics over engineering. Commoditization that decreases knowledge.