politik
Venus
on a crusade against ignorance
Posts: 83
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Post by politik on Dec 1, 2005 13:36:28 GMT -4
Today's technology really lacks in one important area. Reliability. The best thing about technology today is that things are faster, flashier, and cheaper. Frankly, I'd be much more concerned about a moon mission being attempted today than 1960's technology. #1 concern today when new technology is explored is how much will it cost? People like cheap. Companies like cheap. Government likes cheap. If a product can be made by cutting a few corners, it will be done. Those corners are usually quality and reliability. Computers might be faster, cars are more powerful, and TV's are thinner, but computers crash more often, cars are no better on gas and breakdown often, and my one year old laptop has a stuck pixel on the screen. I always get a kick out of people comparing 60's technology with today's when talking about not being about to land on the moon. Today's kids would be surprised to know of what was available back then.
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Al Johnston
"Cheer up!" they said, "It could be worse!" So I did, and it was.
Posts: 1,453
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Post by Al Johnston on Dec 1, 2005 13:42:09 GMT -4
Actually, I'd have to disagree with you about the cars: 10,000 mile service intervals were unheard of in the sixties
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Post by gwiz on Dec 1, 2005 13:54:57 GMT -4
I'd disagree too. The main exception is less reliable computers, where the problem is the increasing complexity of the software making it harder to debug. In my experience, cars and consumer electronics are on the whole more reliable, but household machinery less.
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Post by Fnord Fred on Dec 1, 2005 13:59:10 GMT -4
Besides, aerospace doesn't exactly use your typical electronics. They'll probably be a bit slower, but a lot more specialized and ruggedized. With a narrower focus, they can double and triple-check their code for problems.
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Post by bughead on Dec 1, 2005 15:41:22 GMT -4
Actually, I'd have to disagree with you about the cars: 10,000 mile service intervals were unheard of in the sixties Not totally unheard of - VW engines only need to come out every three oilchanges or so.
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Post by Retrograde on Dec 1, 2005 15:49:51 GMT -4
Actually, I'd have to disagree with you about the cars: 10,000 mile service intervals were unheard of in the sixties I'm with you on that one. I never thought of it this way before, but given the type of cars being produced in America in the 1970s, maybe it's not surprising some people don't believe that the Americans could have sent someone to the moon ;D
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Post by bughead on Dec 1, 2005 15:54:22 GMT -4
Actually, I'd have to disagree with you about the cars: 10,000 mile service intervals were unheard of in the sixties I'm with you on that one. I never thought of it this way before, but given the type of cars being produced in America in the 1970s, maybe it's not surprising some people don't believe that the Americans could have sent someone to the moon ;D I can smell a 70's car or truck on the road from half a block away. Hard to believe all cars once polluted that bad, and that the 70's was an improvement.
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politik
Venus
on a crusade against ignorance
Posts: 83
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Post by politik on Dec 2, 2005 8:44:18 GMT -4
So, not many takes on my point of view on this one!
heh. Oh well. Still, I think that the durability of todays technology leaves something to be desired, at least when considering consumer tech.
So would I be completely wrong in thinking that todays Shuttle issues are the result of cost cutting leading to cheaper less reliable technology put into servicing?
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Bob B.
Bob the Excel Guru?
Posts: 3,072
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Post by Bob B. on Dec 2, 2005 9:50:57 GMT -4
The thing I've noticed about today's technology is that it’s made to throw away and replace when it breaks down. Older stuff was made to be repaired -- you could just keep fixing it and keep it running for years and years as long as parts were available. However, I think the general reliability of older technology was not as good as today. You could keep something operational longer back then, but it took frequent repairs to do so. Today’s stuff runs more-or-less maintenance free until it completely fails and then you just buy a new one.
In general, I think today’s technology is more reliable, but due to a change in philosophy, it has a shorter total lifetime. The “throw away” philosophy came about, I believe, because manufacturing techniques have made things so easy to make that a new product is cheaper than repeated repair bills.
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