Low Tech Goes the Way of Obsolete Tech
Eye glasses are essentially unchanged since their invention centuries ago in The Netherlands. The last pair I bought in 2001 were fairly high-tech: graduated bi-focals, lightweight, and a pair of tiny magnets that allow sunglasses to be clipped on.
Even so, I am now in the technlogical backwater when it comes to glasses. A couple months ago, I lost the sunglasses. No problem, I'll just get another pair. I went back to the optician. I wasn't in their first set of files, because I was considered an "old" customer -- that's what happens when you go four years without an upgrade. Then I found they don't carry the magnetic clip sunglasses any more. The store called the manufacturer; they don't make them anymore.
Technology is Good Enough
Meanwhile, in Europe: " IDC has identified the leading inhibitor as a growing culture of 'good-enough computing,' in which business leaders believe they can run their operations without continually upgrading their IT installations," reports TechWeb.
I'd say "good enough" is pretty good technology. Users are so burned from upgrades making things worse, I'd argue the software and hardware companies only have themselves to blame. [Trot out "software is really complex" argument here.]
For example, as an an editor, I get many press releases and emails. A disturbing number include the following useful phrase:
?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /
The phrase usually appears in the middle of sentances. I assume the author is using one of the latest release of Microsoft Office. Those of us who who haven't upgrade, or prefer non-Microsoft software, don't suffer from that embarassment.
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