PDA

View Full Version : Technology is moving too fast



pelle.k
July 20th, 2012, 07:53 PM
Now, I realize that makes me sound lika a really old fart. But, in my defense, i've felt this way as long as i can remember. I not quite sure what i want to get out of this thread. I suppose I just want to see if there's anyone else out there thinking the same. See, i don't hate technology, it's just it's moving too fast. I'm quite tired of having to update practically every thing i have, all the time. It breaks my workflow, it complicates my life, it deprecates my old gear that works great, and forces me to adapt constantly (like every month). A new MS office release (major) every year. Now, what is that gonna accomplish other than confusing your customers. Release a major version every 5 years instead, and make it rock (super stable, super complete, standards compliant) instead. See what i mean?

Personally, i think we would do just as fine (in fact, i think we would be much more comfortable) with technology (both the technology and software side) by fixing the bugs that already exist and strictly following the standards that also exist and making a big evolutionary jump every 5-10 years, rather than just coming up with new stuff every month os so (for the most part leaving the old stuff in the dust) without every fixing the bugs that already exist.
I'm quite sure the tech industry is making quite a fortune on our endless desire to never stand still and build something with what we have, rather than just buy that new shiny toy and throw that "old" one in the trash bin though.

I found two other articles about the subject that i recommend you read:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,997268-1,00.html
http://blog.koldcast.tv/2011/koldcast-news/5-signs-technology-is-moving-too-fast/

QIII
July 20th, 2012, 08:06 PM
It's the law of the jungle and of the battlefield.

Move or die.

jockyburns
July 20th, 2012, 08:36 PM
When I get stuck with new technology, I invite one of the grandkids over. ..... Soon sorted. :):):)

pelle.k
July 20th, 2012, 09:05 PM
When I get stuck with new technology, I invite one of the grandkids over. ..... Soon sorted. :):):)

Haha, i haven't got any grandkids nor kids yet. But i'll be sure to keep that in mind for when i get there :)
The thing is, i'm still quite young and VERY adept with new tech. Maybe that's why i can see how the flow of new technology is rushed (and thus rather chaotic and sometimes flawed), rather than a slower but predictable evolution of new tech.

The bottom line here is that i think people are convinced they need that new stuff at once, and that the retail (and tech industry) is loving it. It probably doesn't make us much more productive though.
It DOES advance technology rather fast, living in a constant "bleeding edge" environment. But it comes at a cost. Partly because half of the cost of a new gizmo is probably gonna be R&D of it (and the next iteration of it), partly because we kind of ARE the R&D (testing new stuff for them, you know the old motto "release now, fix bugs later"), and partly because it's rather stressful to many of us.

I'm not advocating going back to the stone ages you know ;) i'm just saying there is something to be said about taking it slow and methodical...

QIII
July 20th, 2012, 09:07 PM
I've been herding electrons for 35 years. I like technology to move forward.

ajgreeny
July 20th, 2012, 09:11 PM
I'm quite tired of having to update practically every thing i have, all the time. It breaks my workflow, it complicates my life, it deprecates my old gear that works great, and forces me to adapt constantly (like every month).

A new MS office release (major) every year. Now, what is that gonna accomplish other than confusing your customers.
It's always been that way, and whilst I have some sympathy with your thoughts, just remember that no-one is forcing you to keep up at that pace. As a ubuntu user you could always choose to use only the LTS versions, which would have given you 3 years support until 12.04, which, of course will now have 5 years support.

As to your MS question, what it accomplishes is a heck of a lot of money for MS from those people who believe that they must have the new office version as soon as it comes out.

PS: Note that I am still using Lucid 10.04 as my main OS and on a desktop machine that is now about 7 years old, but manages 10.04 brilliantly with a full compiz desktop if I choose. It will not run unity3D, however, only unity2D, but that is no problem to me as I do not like unity.

urukrama
July 20th, 2012, 09:15 PM
Just because there is new hardware or software available does not mean you have to use it. If you were happy with what you had before the new thing came around, why not just keep using it? You don't have to buy a new computer every year, or a new Office version just because it is available.


And I think you'll like Debian.

codingman
July 20th, 2012, 09:27 PM
^+1

You don't need to update everything, I still have a HINT EISA board with an intel i486 (of course, I no longer use it), i'm curently using an old asus a8n-sli deluxe, and just now upgrading, you don't have to upgrade stuff all the time.

morgan141
July 20th, 2012, 09:29 PM
I don't agree, in a software sense anyway. Programming lends itself to building things in a modular sense, adding small chunks to existing code. With simple code, it's easy to test small additions and check for bugs yourself. However, with more complex projects it's far more efficient to let others test it for you with alpha, beta and release candidates. People are usually only interested in bug testing something knowing that the completed project is going to be useful to them and is going to be released shortly. I'm not convinced anyone would want to beta test software for 5 years...

QIII
July 20th, 2012, 09:30 PM
I recently gave an old Dell with a PIII to a friend of my daughter after installing Bodhi Linux on it. You'd never know it was an old dog.

pelle.k
July 20th, 2012, 10:47 PM
Just because there is new hardware or software available does not mean you have to use it. If you were happy with what you had before the new thing came around, why not just keep using it? You don't have to buy a new computer every year, or a new Office version just because it is available.


And I think you'll like Debian.
Yes, I won't deny that I like LTS strategies ;) and i do like both debian, ubuntu LTS and centos.
However, I've watched many excellent win xp installations become obsolete because vendors don't even bother to write drivers or even keep updating applications for the platform any more. Windows 7 is going the same route, even if it's a fairly recent addition. PPC user have had apple turn their backs on them a long time ago, with machines and software they still enjoyed very much. Some core2 (64bit) macs are left in the dust with Mountain Lion, and many apps move to the latest release and dont even release security updates for "old" (0,5-1 year) OSs.
I can think of many examples, but just recently i bought a MIDI keyboard that doesn't work with Win7 64 bit (or Lion for that matter). I'm sure they want me to buy another one. hehe.

Balthazar54
July 20th, 2012, 10:49 PM
It's not all bad.

My first computer, bought in 1979, had 32k of ram, a 1mhz processor, a 100k floppy drive, no monitor, and was capable of displaying 40 columns, all in upper case.

I spent over 2000 dollars. According to an online calculator I found that would be over 6,666 dollars today.

I recently ordered a Raspberry Pi computer. 256mb of ram, a 700mhz processor, uses a sd card with however many gb I want, no monitor, has a gpu that is supposed to keep up with blu-ray quality grapics. 35 dollars, plus sd card.

How many hobbies get cheaper over time. :D

malspa
July 20th, 2012, 11:08 PM
Sometimes it's good to move forward, sometimes it's good to stay put. I try to pick and choose. Sometimes I'd rather keep my money in my pocket and out of the pockets of the ones who are always selling shiny, new things.

pelle.k
July 20th, 2012, 11:44 PM
It's not all bad.

My first computer, bought in 1979, had 32k of ram, a 1mhz processor, a 100k floppy drive, no monitor, and was capable of displaying 40 columns, all in upper case.

I spent over 2000 dollars. According to an online calculator I found that would be over 6,666 dollars today.

I recently ordered a Raspberry Pi computer. 256mb of ram, a 700mhz processor, uses a sd card with however many gb I want, no monitor, has a gpu that is supposed to keep up with blu-ray quality grapics. 35 dollars, plus sd card.

How many hobbies get cheaper over time. :D
Well, i can't aregue with that. My only complaint would be that they keep us locked in to buying bleeding edge tech, both software and hardware wise. If you're not buying the latest, then you don't get much support at all. I wouldn't mind keeping my stuff for 5-10 years (in som instances), but they are making it very difficult with by tieing new software to new hardware and vice versa. That new camera (i'm not against buying new stuff per se) might require me to update my existing tech (just because they haven't put the effort in to support my "older" tech).
I guess i don't like the defenition of "old" in the context of technology. It doesn't have to be like that. IMHO people shouldn't have to buy the latest and greatest. I think they're limiting our old hardware (and software) intentionally in many cases. And i'm not just speaking of computers here.

jockyburns
July 21st, 2012, 01:40 AM
Thing is ,,, people are greedy. New this,, new that,, They think they need it, because the advertisers are bloody good at their jobs. I only got a flatscreen LED tv a few months ago (and only then because the old CRT one had given up the ghost)
I'm on a 5 yr old computer (now running Ubuntu 12.04) If anything, it's now faster than it was when it was brand new out of the box...

The whole point is,,, If it ain't broke,, don't try to fix it. If your happy with what you have, don't want , what your neighbours have. :):)

DingusFett
July 21st, 2012, 05:10 AM
Yeah, I tend to only upgrade my computers when they die and I have no choice. I've had my current computer probably 4 and a half years now, and runs better now with Ubuntu 12.04 than it did new with Windows 7. I've never had a lot of money to spend on tech, so just dealt with the older gear until I had no choice, then spent the money on a half decent rig with specs just good enough that it should keep me going for at least a few years.

UltimateCat
July 21st, 2012, 06:39 AM
I'm still using Ubuntu 10.04 with Ultimate Edition and I'm perfectly happy.

I do understand tho; where you are coming from.

It seems as tho Engineers, Developers, Dr.'s, Researchers...etc. spend time developing new technologies but are rushed/hurried by demands. Pressure from investors and the general public will always be there and business is business-

IMHO; technology is going much to fast and not enough thought is being given to what needs adjusting, re-designing, implemented....etc.

I couldn't imagine life w/o new technology but I think we need to slow down and think about what we are going to build and how to do it efficiently, effectively and develop thing in a good state of functionality before we build it. This way we would have a lot less bugs to report and maybe even less aggravation.

Just thoughts and my opinion here....nothing personnel-

sffvba[e0rt
July 21st, 2012, 07:03 AM
To quote Iron Maiden, "Be quick, or be dead..."


404

pelle.k
July 21st, 2012, 09:27 AM
I couldn't imagine life w/o new technology but I think we need to slow down and think about what we are going to build and how to do it efficiently, effectively and develop thing in a good state of functionality before we build it. This way we would have a lot less bugs to report and maybe even less aggravation.

Just thoughts and my opinion here....nothing personnel-
Well, you read my mind here i got to say. Perhaps i'm not alone after all, hehe.

pelle.k
July 21st, 2012, 09:35 AM
To quote Iron Maiden, "Be quick, or be dead..."


404
Well, it's nice to know that after tens of thousands of years of evolution, and with our capacity to out-think other predators, the fight-or-flight reflex is apparently still our biggest asset. :-P haha

forrestcupp
July 21st, 2012, 03:30 PM
If you're an Ubuntu user, it's easy to get tired of it constantly updating everything all the time.

But from a hardware standpoint, I've been thinking that technology isn't moving very fast anymore. The difference between my 1988 Commodore 64 and computers of 1995 was huge and very fast paced compared to the difference between a 2005 computer and now. At least from the user's point of view.

Even the new thing, phones and tablets, are starting to plateau. They can add more processor cores to a phone or a tablet, but it's not going to make any difference until the software catches up. I have the original model of the ASUS Transformer, and I was just messing around with the newest, biggest, baddest model of the Transformer at Best Buy. From a practical standpoint, other than being a little lighter in weight, the experience was exactly the same. Ice Cream Sandwich is Ice Cream Sandwich.