12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use • Hacker News Board

Re: 12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use

#11

Post by scholia » Fri, May 31, 2013, 4:14 PM UTC

eitland wrote: post #5

varkson wrote: post #4

I can't tell if this article is supposed to be mocking these technologies or justifying their use. I don't see why landlines are dying, mobile phones are way too expensive for general use. Hell, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't have a landline.

Serious? Where I live (across the pond) cellphones are the cheaper alternative. Landlines are all swapped for ip "landlines" or mobile phones not only for convenience but also for price.

In the UK, you have to have a landline (or cable) to have a wired Internet connection.

Re: 12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use

#12

Post by numo16 » Fri, May 31, 2013, 5:31 PM UTC

Tloewald wrote: post #3

Fax machines are the big one. They were obsolete ten years ago and still cheerfully screwing up documents and wasting paper today. I'd argue that the printer and books pretty much qualify.

I get the most enjoyment out of people who keep fax machines around because they think it is more secure than email.

Re: 12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use

#13

Post by snogglethorpe » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 7:45 AM UTC

eitland wrote: post #5

varkson wrote: post #4

I can't tell if this article is supposed to be mocking these technologies or justifying their use. I don't see why landlines are dying, mobile phones are way too expensive for general use. Hell, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't have a landline.

Serious? Where I live (across the pond) cellphones are the cheaper alternative. Landlines are all swapped for ip "landlines" or mobile phones not only for convenience but also for price.

Cellphone pricing can be a bit of the wild-west...

I have unlimited free calls to anybody with the same carrier—but calls to other carriers are really expensive, much more than a payphone.

[I'm actually surprised this is even legal, but ...]

Re: 12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use

#14

Post by snogglethorpe » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 7:54 AM UTC

A fairly stupid article, which seems to be pushing the silly idea that as soon as neat new tech A becomes popular, old tech B suddenly becomes completely obsolete and useless. The "cult of the new" you might call it.

In reality almost all new tech, even that which is a good general replacement for something older, involves tradeoffs. Sometimes the bad points outweigh the good ones for use-cases slightly out of the mainstream. In other cases, the advantages of the new tech simply aren't great enough to warrant replacing something you already own.

[I own a (small) old CRT TV. A new LCD TV might be neat and appeal to my gadget instinct, but ... why bother? I don't really use it so much, and the old one works well enough. I just don't care about it very much, and would rather spend the money on something I do care about.]

Re: 12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use

#15

Post by snogglethorpe » Sun, Jun 02, 2013, 7:57 AM UTC

Tloewald wrote: post #3

Fax machines are the big one. They were obsolete ten years ago and still cheerfully screwing up documents and wasting paper today. I'd argue that the printer and books pretty much qualify.

Books?

Maybe one day when somebody comes up with an adequate replacement...