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beancounter
 
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Weehawken, NJ
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has technology jumped the shark, or is it just me getting old

or both?

I'm increasingly frustrated by the tech devices in our lives. Without doubt they have brought massive convenience, and productivity over the last decade or 2. However, my observation is we have reached a point where the purveyors of this tech are constantly "improving" and releasing "updates" in their zeal to stay "current" but most of the time they are "fixing" things that weren't broken in the first place. Furthermore, the constant updating seems to be accelerating and that also means the expensive hardware is becoming obsolete at a faster pace.

It used to be easy for me to turn off automatic updates and run older versions of software for years, and keep hardware for years. I think this is getting more and more difficult. My iPhone is trying to install iOS updates almost everyday. My windows 10 PC seems to ask for an update weekly, and everytime I update the OS, or am forced to update an app, or other piece of software, something stops working.

Feels like we are now on the downhill side of the productivity curve.

Looking forward to someone posting the pic of the grumpy old man in this thread in 3...2...1

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Old 10-20-2017, 05:49 AM
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I agree but won't give up on tech. The other extreme is this. My bil in the UK says show me your cell phone(he does not have one). I ask him for his internet address and password so I can show him how it works(he has a laptop which he never uses). He refuses so I refuse to show him my cell phone.

A tech friend here says eventually you won't be able to get the updates on my apple iphone 4s forcing me to get a newer phone iphone. Yes updates are frequent but I am hooked on my iphone so I am beyond help.
Old 10-20-2017, 06:15 AM
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planned/forced obsolescence.

Noticed this last fall, as christmas season was approaching. Our older Ipad, as well as our phones, were constantly alerting us to update OS. Once updated, the devices began to function erratically.

My bet is that the reasoning was made that a certain percentage of consumers would just simply give in and reason that they needed or deserved the newest/latest device anyway, and go out and splurge on that latest gadget.

I just did an OS update on my ipone whatever S. It is now all glitchy. Am I going to go ahead and get the new iphone 10 or whatever !?!?

hell no.
Old 10-20-2017, 06:22 AM
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A large portion of updates consist of patches to security vulnerabilities. Threat actors are constantly finding new holes in our technology that need to be closed.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:26 AM
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I think it's like the Maytag repairman syndrome. Make something to last and folks won't need anything for so long you go bankrupt.

Take my 944, it's thirty years old, everything works on it. A little DIY with upkeep and I'm happy. I've only had it a year now but in my head its a lost car sale to every new car on the market. Best 3K I ever spent. It also robs every mechanic that might have had my business if I got something I couldn't DIY.

My phone is a GZone Commando, I needed a tough smart phone that fit in my pocket. I liked it so much I bought another off Amazon for cheap and put it in my safe for the future.

All these frugal things I've done have cost somebody business and money. In order to stay in business you have to build stuff to only last a few years and you need bigger and better to keep the bills paid. Sad but true.-WW
Old 10-20-2017, 06:31 AM
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The Unsettler
 
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Something recent that has happened is device control over HDMI.

Say your home theatre set up is off, you open the disc tray on your Blu-Ray which turns it on, it then signals your receiver to turn on and switch to the correct HDMI input which in turn tries to fire up your projector.

Sounds great in theory.

In my home, it's a fikken nightmare as certain devices prefer to come and go offline in a specific order so everything syncs up and it causes the audio signal to drop requiring me to switch inputs to get it to sync again.

It's not helpful.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:31 AM
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I'm definitely of the getting older category. Wife has a Galaxy S ? phone and uses it constantly.
Myself? I was in What-a-Burger yesterday and when I ordered the girl behind the counter asked if I had the What-a-burger App? I pulled out my 7 YO flip phone and said I don't do Apps... she died laughing and told me my phone looked just like her grandfathers.

I use my flip for phone calls and my texting is pretty limited to: Y N and OK.. about covers it all for me.

I spent 35+ years in the software/hardware business so I'm not really a Luddite technology wise, I just chose to ignore some of it.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:35 AM
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The Unsettler
 
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The ability to update devices over the air has caused a change in QA cycles in software development.

As the software is no longer distributed on disc based media you don't have to "get it right" out of the gate.

You can do rolling updates all day.

We recently put a product into retail, to save on the gory details of working with SONY and Xbox in order to hit our worldwide launch date on 3 platforms simultaneously one of them ended up going out requiring a 4gb first day patch.

Less than ideal and the last thing we wanted to do but the only other choice was delay that one platform by 6-8 weeks and by that time it would been so late it would not have sold.

Sometimes, far too often in fact, our business decisions come down to a choice between bad and worse.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:39 AM
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Back in the saddle again
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jwasbury View Post
or both?

I'm increasingly frustrated by the tech devices in our lives. Without doubt they have brought massive convenience, and productivity over the last decade or 2. However, my observation is we have reached a point where the purveyors of this tech are constantly "improving" and releasing "updates" in their zeal to stay "current" but most of the time they are "fixing" things that weren't broken in the first place. Furthermore, the constant updating seems to be accelerating and that also means the expensive hardware is becoming obsolete at a faster pace.

It used to be easy for me to turn off automatic updates and run older versions of software for years, and keep hardware for years. I think this is getting more and more difficult. My iPhone is trying to install iOS updates almost everyday. My windows 10 PC seems to ask for an update weekly, and everytime I update the OS, or am forced to update an app, or other piece of software, something stops working.

Feels like we are now on the downhill side of the productivity curve.

Looking forward to someone posting the pic of the grumpy old man in this thread in 3...2...1
I think there are a few things going on.

Apple, IMO, when they release an update, they intentionally make it beat up the older gear so folks want to buy new stuff that's a bad thing, at least for most of us. Also, just recently, 11.0 came out. They quickly found issues and released a patch to fix them... twice. So we got 11.0.1, then 11.0.2 and then 11.0.3 all within days. That's actually a good thing.

I don't know that Microsoft is doing the same to nearly the same extent. They don't have much stake in the hardware game, so they don't benefit from the planned obsolescence. You probably do get weekly updates to Windows, many/most of those are security updates to patch issues that have been found. Some are not as desirable. I'm still running Win 7 just fine. I have no intention of going to 10 any time soon or possibly ever (Will probably go Mac).

I don't think it's jumped the shark, it's just advancing at a rapid pace with new ideas popping up all of the time. Some of the new ideas may not be mature, but may in a few years be a most have thing. Is all of this stuff really helping? It's probably helping us and hurting us at the same time.

I'm sure people have been thinking the same thing for many years. Heck, just think back to the first "computer" managed ignitions and carbs from the 80s. We all knew they were the a step back and horrible (and they were), but they led the way for our current super efficient and more powerful cars based on computerized fuel and spark which is UFO tech by comparison.
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:43 AM
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The Stick
 
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Sorry but the days of getting a computer and software and just chugging along without keeping it updated are gone. Unless you do one major thing with your computer. Never plug it into or connect it to the internet. If the computer will never be on-line you don't NEED them updates. Thank you Hackers and Scammers.

Despite all the new features and capabilities I kind of agree with the downhill side of the productivity curve though. People seem to be so into personal communications and social networking they forget about the core functionality of the things that make them productive. I used databases back in the 90's that had more functionality than the database apps available today. Have also used illustration apps from that era that were much easier and faster to create artwork with. It's like they got drag and drop, touch screen friendly, and feature happy But forgot about core functionality the apps were originally made to accomplish.
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Last edited by RKDinOKC; 10-20-2017 at 07:05 AM..
Old 10-20-2017, 06:54 AM
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I get the need to update for security, adding features or to make things fresher, but the way they take and move areas you click on or add information drives me nuts- doing stuff intuitively saves so much time.

Seems like every time apple sends an update for my iPad they just swap the stuff at the top from side to side!
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Old 10-20-2017, 06:58 AM
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I'm in the same boat as Jack. I have a flip phone to use for making calls when I'm out somewhere and have to ask my wife a question. We don't even have a cell signal where we live. My wife has a fancy smart phone she uses via wifi at home. But the rate of advance & change encompasses everything. I was at a guys shop yesterday. He does rods, rat rods, & restorations. It was great to see cars that weren't stuffed with electronic wizardry.
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jwasbury View Post

Looking forward to someone posting the pic of the grumpy old man in this thread in 3...2...1


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Old 10-20-2017, 07:08 AM
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The Stick
 
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Now, Get Off My LAWN!
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:11 AM
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least common denominator
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stomachmonkey View Post

As the software is no longer distributed on disc based media you don't have to "get it right" out of the gate.

You can do rolling updates all day.

Sometimes, far too often in fact, our business decisions come down to a choice between bad and worse.
We we talking about buggy OS's the other day... I commented "there is such a marketing push to have the newest, shinyest, fastest, bestest, system for sale ASAP they don't have the time to do any testing for QC."
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:16 AM
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beancounter
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OffCamber00 View Post
A large portion of updates consist of patches to security vulnerabilities. Threat actors are constantly finding new holes in our technology that need to be closed.
I can accept security as a reason for updates, but these updates are like pieces of congressional legislation: loaded with pork.

Recent windows updates have made it so I can't use sound recording software to directly record the output from the PC audio system. I did that very thing 6 months ago without issue, now it no longer is an option. Why? PCs are sold and marketed as multimedia devices that allow us to make music, movies, blah, blah, blah. The ability to record the output of the soundcard is a pretty critical thing for a multimedia device I'd say.

I have Sonos in my home (love it). I have repurposed a couple older iPhones into Sonos remotes to leave in various rooms around the house. Otherwise you have to carry your primary phone all around and I don't want to live with my phone in my hand 24/7. This was a new lease on life for these perfectly good older pieces of tech. Its not possible to further upgrade the OS on these phones, and now the entire Sonos system has suddenly stopped working with the older versions of their app so I can't use these old phones as remote controls any longer. Why? Is security a big issue for a stereo system? The app allowed you to choose the music source, play and stop music, select which room to play the music, increase and decrease the volume and adjust tone controls. Not sure what else it needs to do that is so important to kill off compatibility with older devices?
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Jacob
Current: 1983 911 GT4 Race Car / 1999 Spec Miata / 2000 MB SL500 / 1998 MB E300TD / 1998 BMW R1100RT / 2016 KTM Duke 690
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:24 AM
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we were promised jet packs and moon colonies.

we got freemium apps.




we need to take a step backwards to fix a few things. apple needs to mke the phone one sixteenth thicker and double the battery life. and make it water resistant. then move forward again.
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:24 AM
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beancounter
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gogar View Post


^there he is!!! Thanks Mr. Gogar, I feel better now
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Jacob
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:25 AM
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I don't use half the capabilities of my electronic stuff. I don't have the patience to learn all the buttons and switches and secret handshakes of my stuff (not that anything has an actual button or switch anymore). I get it working well enough to do what I need done and move on. As a result I'm afraid of my stuff, afraid I'll brush my hand over the wrong part of the screen and it will lock up, blow up, or just stop working. The biggest offenders are my entertainment system, my iPhone&iPad, and a robot vacuum cleaner.
I am in awe of Scott. He not only understands all this stuff, he understands it in a way that he can talk to us mortals.
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Old 10-20-2017, 07:32 AM
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The "updates" are really NSA downloads of your device; pics, emails, texts, contacts, etc...
Yup, I actually believe that!

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Old 10-20-2017, 07:38 AM
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