Sun Monitor (UK) (2)

From: yakowenk(a)csx.unxc.edu (remove x's) On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, "Richard Erlacher" wrote: ] Well, if it's an industry, it's not a hoby to everyone, and the state it's ] gotten into is PROFITABLE, which means it will be around a while longer. ] ... ] I guess if you only want to do what people did 20 years ] ago, then fixing stuff isn't a priority, since it will be much more of an ] antique once you get it fixed. I always figured it's good to know what is ] happening out there now. That's particularly true since that's how I intend ] to continue making my living. ] ] What the computer industry is about is MAKING MONEY. It's good that there ] are some people working in the industry who realize that it's about GETTING ] PAID, and not so much about having fun. I think maybe you have a little case of tunnel-vision here. The goal is not just "get a working monitor". And "$MAKE MONEY FAST$" is not even vaguely a part of the equation. The bottom line is that he wants to fix it, and there definitely are benefits to doing that. The financial bottom line may not show them, but they are there. Those dollar signs on the bottom line don't show the whole quality-of-life picture, just one aspect of it. Zoom out and look at the whole picture. Having dollars in your pocket are certainly a good thing. But having toxic waste buried everywhere is not. Having megacorporations trampling civil rights is not. Having bored geeks is not. Having people who don't understand the world they live in, but vote about it anyway, is not. These things may not all be connected to Tony's monitor, but they are all results of seeing only the financial bottom line. Somebody makes a big profit in causing each of those things. Money in their pocket; crap for the rest of the world. Keep that in mind, and think about everything that is affected by the decision of repair vs. buy new: where the physical material goes, where the money goes, whose mental states are changed and in what ways, etc.. Then, repairing an old monitor instead of buying a new cheap one makes a lot more sense. You don't enjoy it yourself, fine, for you the holistic bottom line is still a no-go. For others it can go positive. So lets not have any more "your hobby is a waste of time" talk, OK? Especially when that hobby is the raison-d'etre for this list. Okay, end of rant. Bill.