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walkitoutToday's surliness was triggered in part by:
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/31/5261042/welcome-to-the-age-of-the-upgrade
"I believe it was this moment — the moment of the Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and eventually the SNES — that changed consumer attitudes about technology in our lives forever. This was the moment that the consumer learned that the thing you already owned was going to be replaced, and the replacement was going to be awesome. A more awesome version of the same thing. And there would be something after that, too. Consumer objects like cars had been aggressively sold on a similar pattern of updates, but the differences between model years was nearly nonexistent. Cars were expensive, bought on decade-long cycles, and offered bombast in marketing but almost no discernible differences to a driver. Game consoles were cheap, widely available to everyone, and could easily demonstrate exactly how new and different they were."
Yes, Virginia, this generation of young people definitely invented sex, too!
(1) Cars used to be replaced in a much shorter time frame decades ago than they are today.
(2) Just because tech differences in Old Stuff is invisible to you doesn't mean it wasn't a Really Big Deal back then. In much the same way that all those console differences that are so important to you are completely invisible to people who were and are, shall we say, much less connected to them.
The sad thing is, I was kind of excited that someone could look at what other people call planned obsolescence and get excited and happy that things were getting better. But reading the details of the argument, not so much.
http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/31/5261042/welcome-to-the-age-of-the-upgrade
"I believe it was this moment — the moment of the Genesis, TurboGrafx-16, and eventually the SNES — that changed consumer attitudes about technology in our lives forever. This was the moment that the consumer learned that the thing you already owned was going to be replaced, and the replacement was going to be awesome. A more awesome version of the same thing. And there would be something after that, too. Consumer objects like cars had been aggressively sold on a similar pattern of updates, but the differences between model years was nearly nonexistent. Cars were expensive, bought on decade-long cycles, and offered bombast in marketing but almost no discernible differences to a driver. Game consoles were cheap, widely available to everyone, and could easily demonstrate exactly how new and different they were."
Yes, Virginia, this generation of young people definitely invented sex, too!
(1) Cars used to be replaced in a much shorter time frame decades ago than they are today.
(2) Just because tech differences in Old Stuff is invisible to you doesn't mean it wasn't a Really Big Deal back then. In much the same way that all those console differences that are so important to you are completely invisible to people who were and are, shall we say, much less connected to them.
The sad thing is, I was kind of excited that someone could look at what other people call planned obsolescence and get excited and happy that things were getting better. But reading the details of the argument, not so much.
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Date: 2014-01-02 12:37 am (UTC)It's kind of true that we didn't usually talk about "an upgrade" before then, but "upgrading" an employee's status or a piece of equipment was quite common business usage well before the 1950s.
I found an article from 1918 that says due to the shortage of steel and so forth many people have had to give up their habit of buying new cars every year. I'm sure this was partly a matter of conspicuous consumption at that date, but still! http://books.google.com/books?id=GUg5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA5-PA70
"And this has meant that many people who make a practice of purchasing a new car every year have had to forego their custom and get along with the old 'bus. Many other people who might have been able to get cars have decided, for patriotic reasons, that they could very well get along with their old vehicles. So it happens that the word overhauling has a totally new meaning for a large class of our population. By way of consolation to those earnest souls who are forced this year to go without a new motor car, for the first time in many moons, let us offer the assurance that a motor of standard American make, properly overhauled and tuned up, will run better the second year than the first. The various parts of the mechanism have just about had a chance in, say, 5,000 miles of running to wear in and become supple in action without developing any sign of excessive play. The car owner who drives an overhauled car for the first time will be agreeably surprised at the behavior of the fabric under his control."