Just a Note – Our Disposable Society (A Bit Of A Rant) – January 30, 2016

Hello Folks!

I don’t think there has ever been a period in our history where people have been more manipulated then we, the descendants of the “Industrial Revolution”.  Today’s values are drastically changed from those of just thirty years ago. We have been propelled into a disposable world.  The products which we buy are made to wear down far more rapidly than in the past.  Once, a company might have been stigmatized for poor quality products, now it would seem that no one really cares – unless of course they don’t have the money to replace the objects that they need with a new working versions of that objects.

We buy an e-readers, e-pods, digital cameras etc and discover that it has a life of perhaps two to three years.  Basically because the battery dies and there’s no way to replace the battery.  But then, why ever would one want to keep an object for more than three years?  The new versions have so many great “upgrades” And look at the great colours – yada yada.  Of course this is just one example of how the disposable economy works.  Think about that coffee maker you bought a couple of years ago … the ones that used this or that type of capsule, that went out of production, you’ve still got the coffee maker perhaps but you can’t use it.  Think about your great printer, that one with a super low price, didn’t you have to replace the ink cartridges after about a month, and the cartridges cost almost as much as the printer.

Microsoft and the computer companies under its economic umbrella have hit onto the ultimate way to induce consumers to renew their whole configuration of electronic products by simply changing their operating system every two years or so.  XP, fell to Vista, which fell to Seven (and many gave a sigh of relief)) which fell to Eight which is now succumbing to Ten.  Vista came out when? In 2007, not even a decade ago.  Oh and if you have to buy a new computer, you will be obliged to buy it with the new Operating System … and probably will have to replace your older model scanner, printers or what ever peripheries you have and you’ll see why below.

Now for synergy at it’s most sinister.  The software known as drivers for a lot of peripheral objects like printers have to be written or adapted for the new OS … at a certain point, these companies simply make a “new” version of their printer without the older Operating System’s “drivers” being included this means that one can’t use that printer on one’s older system – if you have a new computer you can’t use the old drivers of the peripheries (yes your machine worked but you have to chuck them anyway) – voilà the sales of printers, scanners etc. go up.  As time passes, Microsoft stops updating their older products. (Just as an aside, does anyone remember Microsoft Reader … if you see any old .lit files you might not know what to do with them .. the reader was dropped by Microsoft and no longer updated, those who bought the reader were left hanging – I’m afraid it doesn’t bode well for my favourite mobile phone producer, Nokia).

Of course if the platform as an OS is now formally called had been made without security wholes that wouldn’t be such a big deal. This is not the case, they are vulnerable to security attacks  – and so we need security updates and when there are no security updates our computer can be hacked through the Internet.  After a period of time even browsers like Google Chrome etc. stop writing security software for the older OS :

“Earlier this year, we announced that Google Chrome would continue support for Windows XP through the remainder of 2015.  At that time, we strongly encouraged users on older, unsupported platforms such as Windows XP to update to a supported, secure operating system. Such older platforms are missing critical security updates and have a greater potential to be infected by viruses and malware.

Today, we’re announcing the end of Chrome’s support for Windows XP, as well as Windows Vista, and Mac OS X 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8, since these platforms are no longer actively supported by Microsoft and Apple. Starting April 2016, Chrome will continue to function on these platforms but will no longer receive updates and security fixes.

If you are still on one of these unsupported platforms, we encourage you to move to a newer operating system to ensure that you continue to receive the latest Chrome versions and features.

Posted by Marc Pawliger, Director of Engineering and Early Notifier“

Once upon a time, there was a wheel.  The wheelwright put all his skill into making his wheels the sturdiest wheels around and he had many loyal customers who stood by his product and brought their friends.  His wheels lasted for ages.  But he wasn’t part of a multi-national occult cartel – his clients wanted a good wheel that worked and was sturdy .. not a gadgety hodgepodgeery wheel that changed how you had to mount it every two years meaning eventually one was obliged to buy a new cart (and maybe even a new horse) in order to use the wheel.  Sure, the guy down the street was right, the new wheels are cheap, you can buy them for a fraction of the price of the wheelwright’s wheels .. but is it really worth it.  Besides, that neighbours back yard is full of broken discarded wheels 😉 .

The majority of consumers today are exactly what the word implies .. people who consume – they’re the ruminants who are needed to make a system based on poor quality and greed work.  We see this everywhere …  starting from fast food poison and going on up the chain.  Never has the saying that “people are sheep” been truer than in this age of ever-present propaganda inducing people to put their critical sense on hold as they run blindly towards the latest novelty convinced they are living in opulence.