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Why We Love Things We Build Ourselves

RichDiesal writes "The IKEA Effect refers to the tendency for people to value things they have created/built themselves more than if made by someone else – in fact, nearly as much as if an expert with much greater skill had created the same item. Is this the reason that open source software proponents are so 'enthusiastic' about their products while the general market resists them – because those proponents had a hand in developing them?"

4 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Karl Marx anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    So I suppose the twit who dubbed this "the Ikea effect" never heard of this neckbeard from the 19th century and his theory of alienation?

  2. Re:So let me get this straight... by ZeroExistenZ · · Score: 2, Informative

    unlike windows where i have to spend hours chasing drivers

    You must remember windows 95 and windows ME and take it as a reference...

    I have had the EXACT same sentiments about Linux with this process:

    • List all your hardware
    • Partition your drives
    • Start installation, guess on some hardware settings (guess wrong, you don't know where to change it later and spend hours online and in manuals)
    • Be happy, you have an XFree desktop.
    • Tweak the config file to recognize your 3D card so you can have a higher resolution
    • XFree doesn't boot up anymore

    Ubuntu etc has been a step up

    • Insert CD
    • Install
    • See desktop, be happy. Have high resolutions
    • Install program...
    • sudo... compile failed, library not found
    • Hunt down references and libraries
    • Obscure fora, no support
    • Have library, library version not supported
    • Try to watch video..
    • 2 hours trying to get codecs installed.
    --
    I think we can keep recursing like this until someone returns 1
  3. Re:Ikea Customers by necro81 · · Score: 3, Informative

    IKEA furniture uses almost no chipboard. This is one of the reasons why I have some of it: the parts that look like real wood are, well, real wood. It is birch and fir for the most part - not maple, walnut, and mahogany - but real wood nonetheless. Aside from metal components, the only non-wood portions are some panels of thin MDF, for instance forming the back wall of a dresser. People might give IKEA shit for producing what seems to be cheap crap, but it is of much higher quality in materials, durability, and design than the majority of "some assembly required" furniture pushed by big box stores.

  4. Re:Ikea Customers by crashmph · · Score: 3, Informative

    I am gonna wave a really big bull shit flag here. Have you ever taken any of IKEA's furniture/shelves apart to adjust them to fit in a different size location? I recently bought a wooden (so i thought) table from there to use as a work surface. I needed to cut the table down by a foot or so as it was to wide. Once it was cut... the table top was 2 1/2" thick with an 1/8" worth of veneer on the top and bottom with CARDBOARD honeycomb through the center of the entire table. Only the 2-3" of edges had "actual" wood in it. This has not been an isolated incident with my experiences with IKEA furniture. Sure lots of their furniture is real wood, unless you get something that is painted white or other full solid color. Those painted items are completely made of MDF except for the feet, they were actually made of wood. So don't get them wet! Learn from my mistakes. This is just my experience and your mileage may vary...