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I started this thread as a result of a discussion from another one I started about the New Firefox design. It got me wondering why the developers change everything so fast. As soon as you become comfortable, familiar and adept at using something it's too old.
Planned obsolescence in design and functionality is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, unfashionable and no longer functional after a certain period of time. The consumer is then under pressure to purchase again.
The big industries have been practicing it since the mid 1930's. I've heard they once could make rubber tires and shoes that never wore out. And that a light bulb never actually has to burn out, they're simply made that way. Well, that's all fine and good to some point but the speed at which corporations want you to buy houses, cars and electronics is too fast to afford anymore. The average middle class person doesn't have the disposable income to afford to throw away their timed out junk. LED TV's, computers, new cars etc are starting to price themselves out of existence.
Was the goal of Microsoft, making Windows 8 Metro, an attempt to push PC users into touch screen devices ie. Tablets/smartphones or to be a cross-platform operating system?
Without the easy access to the typical OS menu and Start button, it appears to be a controlling measure that didn't workout well. Though with Windows 9, they'll include the option for a more classic PC desktop, I don't believe Metro will disappear but rather morph and expand. And the new Windows may very well have gesture recognition. Adding built-in gesture support would make sense given that Intel is heavily pushing the technology, and that Microsoft has its own Kinect sensor to sell.
Current rumors indicate that Windows 9 is scheduled for release in April of 2015.
I haven't even gotten out of Vista yet, though I've worked with Windows 7 and don't see the big diff. And I won't change my OS, until my current PC gives up the ghost (hopefully years). Then I'll switch over to a large screen- laptop for good. I don't need anything larger than a 17" and find bigger screens (21"+) have too much panoramic head swiveling. I also cannot comfortably use a tablet full time and find smartphones unbearably awkward and useless.
There's no real good reason for me to stay with the PC box anymore, since you can get the same computing abilities and accessories on a notebook. For years you had to stay with the box design to get the power, screen size and pricing but those days are finally gone, except for extreme gamers... and they even make some pretty hopped laptops for them.
I'd say within 5-7 years there won't be a personal computer in the form they exist now,, for sale. The only thing that will change this is if the economy doesn't pick up enough for the majority of the population to afford the latest and greatest in technology. I think there's going to be two versions of everything, nice and new for the affluent, and old fashioned and used for the rest of us.
Don't even get me started on appliances and clothing wearing out too soon.
Planned obsolescence in design and functionality is a policy of planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, unfashionable and no longer functional after a certain period of time. The consumer is then under pressure to purchase again.
The big industries have been practicing it since the mid 1930's. I've heard they once could make rubber tires and shoes that never wore out. And that a light bulb never actually has to burn out, they're simply made that way. Well, that's all fine and good to some point but the speed at which corporations want you to buy houses, cars and electronics is too fast to afford anymore. The average middle class person doesn't have the disposable income to afford to throw away their timed out junk. LED TV's, computers, new cars etc are starting to price themselves out of existence.
Was the goal of Microsoft, making Windows 8 Metro, an attempt to push PC users into touch screen devices ie. Tablets/smartphones or to be a cross-platform operating system?
Without the easy access to the typical OS menu and Start button, it appears to be a controlling measure that didn't workout well. Though with Windows 9, they'll include the option for a more classic PC desktop, I don't believe Metro will disappear but rather morph and expand. And the new Windows may very well have gesture recognition. Adding built-in gesture support would make sense given that Intel is heavily pushing the technology, and that Microsoft has its own Kinect sensor to sell.
Current rumors indicate that Windows 9 is scheduled for release in April of 2015.
I haven't even gotten out of Vista yet, though I've worked with Windows 7 and don't see the big diff. And I won't change my OS, until my current PC gives up the ghost (hopefully years). Then I'll switch over to a large screen- laptop for good. I don't need anything larger than a 17" and find bigger screens (21"+) have too much panoramic head swiveling. I also cannot comfortably use a tablet full time and find smartphones unbearably awkward and useless.
There's no real good reason for me to stay with the PC box anymore, since you can get the same computing abilities and accessories on a notebook. For years you had to stay with the box design to get the power, screen size and pricing but those days are finally gone, except for extreme gamers... and they even make some pretty hopped laptops for them.
I'd say within 5-7 years there won't be a personal computer in the form they exist now,, for sale. The only thing that will change this is if the economy doesn't pick up enough for the majority of the population to afford the latest and greatest in technology. I think there's going to be two versions of everything, nice and new for the affluent, and old fashioned and used for the rest of us.
Don't even get me started on appliances and clothing wearing out too soon.