9 Jun
2006
9 Jun
'06
3:34 a.m.
Billy Pettit wrote:
Tony Duell wrote:
What you're possibly missing here is that people like me choose a product
_because of the availability of scheamtics and repair parts_. I actually
tracked down and bought a genuine Teac floppy drive for this PC becasue I
could get a service manual for it. Said drive cost over 10 times as much as
a non-name, no-docs drive from the local PC shop.
--------------------------------------
Billy:
Tony, as far as I know you are unique - there are no other people like you.
(And no, I'm not judging you - I regard myself as unique in lots of ways,
and proudly.)
But let's ask the list: is there anybody else out there or that you know
who buys a product only if it has repair documentation available?
And as a corollary, do you only buy products you want to run 20 years? Or
can you accept a product as being expendable? How long should a computer
part last?
I do. My VCR, TV, tape (hifi) decks, etc. Even my first PC
was purchased contingent on having a service manual available!
Ditto for my car, etc.
I expect "things" to last a long time -- assuming I am going
to "take care" of them. But, then again, I don't usually buy
crappy products so they actually DO stand a chance of "lasting".
Immediately after buying something, I figure out which parts
are the most likely to need replacement (mechanical wear, etc.)
and/or will be the hardest to locate substitutes for later on.
I make an educated guess as to how many of these I should
"stockpile" and then order them. Whenever one of these DOES
break, I replace it out of my "spares" lot and immediately
order a replacement for that spare.
It lets me buy "better" products than Joe Average would
normally afford -- since I don't have to replace the entire
product *or* pay exorbitant service fees to keep the old one
running!
<shrug> Works for me. YMMV.