22 Sep
2011
22 Sep
'11
7:37 p.m.
Those model M keyboards came from a time when there
were still a fair
number of people upgrading their own systems and places doing repair, so
the comparison isn't apt there.
More than that, those were built at a time when people valued quality, and
rejected cheap junk, because the mentality was to do things right and make
them to last. The obsession with "new" overshadowed that and now new is
more important than anything else.
I used 3278s and never saw a Model M until a few years ago. When the places
I worked finally forced me to use a commodity PC as a terminal, I hated the
keyboards and just put up with it because I thought that was all there was.
I have a couple of NOS Model Ms now and they remind me a lot of the 3278s.
I admit I don't use them regularly because they're a lot slower for me than
my high-end mechanical import boards. But that doesn't take anything away
from them, they're still great and they'll
still be working for another
generation or two.
I'm a backward sort of user, simply because
upgrading creates a lot of
trouble and doesn't buy me anything that I can use.
I think most people here would agree with your view. Not about yourself I
mean ;-) I mean upgrading doesn't buy much except in specific cases.
I intentionally stay behind on hardware and software and by the time I buy
something I'm sure it will work. I let the other guys alpha and beta test
stuff. I don't have time to break my setup by upgrading for nothing. I do a
little experimenting but I don't need the latest of anything for anything I
do. Except for new releases of the stuff I work on for a living, I leave new
stuff to the people who work on it.
But I'm not representative of the consumer
community at large, any more
than Tony is.
No, but you sound pretty representative of the guys on this list :-)
At any rate, the basic idea is that people prefer new
things, whether
it's a pair of pants or an automobile--and that's not likely to change.
That's so true. I remember when fuel injected cars came out in the
mainstream and how quickly the carbs disappeared. I was having a discussion
with some of the guys at work, most of them went right out and bought new
stuff and had problems. I like stuff I can wrench on and don't have to
depend on other people for. I finally did have to buy a fuel injected car
and sure enough it had undiagnosable problems that left me stranded on the
highway several times over a year until they figured out what it was. Then
it happened again on another vehicle until a mechanic figured out the
problem.
On the other hand I knew a computer technician who built his own test
harnesses and diagnostic equipment and did most if not all of his own
diagnosis and repairs on all his automotive electronics. This guy never
worked as a mechanic, he was just a guy like Tony who never met anything
that lit up that he couldn't figure out.
I admire those guys a lot.