Sorry, this is crap. If you choose not to learn how to work on a modern car, that's your own issue.
I'm not a mechanic by trade (though, admittedly I grew up with a family who races professionally) but I will take a modern car to work on over something 10+ years old any day. In fact, one of my "toy" cars is a 1988 Mazda. It's had an entire drivetrain from a 2001 GM product swapped into it, and that has in turn had even more modern electronic controls put into it.
My 2007 Infiniti is just as easy to work on as my 1987 Renault GTA was, and it's a damn sight easier to keep running well. Obviously electric/hybrid cars require a different skill set from ICE cars, but that's simply a matter of learning what to do.
BTW, many of the freelance mechanics I know are much more skilled than the average monkey at a dealership, the dealership simply has more books and specialized tools. Those are all available to the shade tree guys too, just call your Mac/Snap-On dealer.
I'm confused by this fear of technology on... Slashdot. Really guys? Come on.
I ran 4 hour care packs on all my HP stuff (when I supported servers/workstations). I can think of only 2 out of 20+ calls where I did not have the parts in my 4 hour window, and both times were parts they had to fly in overnight for me. Both of those instances had parts on my doorstep the following morning.
I do not have their techs install the parts, as they are simply slow to work (they arrive quickly, but are too unskilled to complete the task in a timely manner).
All that said, I've never owned an in warranty HP system that I did not purchase the advanced support on, so perhaps their "less advanced" support is rather poor.
So, AC, let's hear your solution to this problem. How do you recommend this is resolved? Have anything useful to add, or do you just enjoy being contrary?
I disagree. You assume a level of competence that not all consumers have. The consumers with less knowledge on the subject is exactly who they need to appeal to. Those of us with a great deal of knowledge on the subject will never be their bread and butter. They need to keep the advanced consumers happy, but they need to keep the basic people happiest.
That said, one of their major failings is that they are not appealing to either customer base at this point. Pushy, non-knowledgeable staff, plus poor pricing.
There is a local hobby shop here. I'm a pretty avid RC guy. I -ALWAYS- try to buy from them first. They -NEVER- have what I'm looking for. The last time I was in there, and they offered to order in what I needed, I flat out told them I'd be buying it online. Their argument was that I should support my local hobby shop, or it would cease to exist. Valid point, but why do I care if a store that does not sell what I want goes out of business? I can order the parts online myself, I will get the RIGHT part the first time, it will cost less, I will get it sooner and I don't have to drive to the store to pick it up.
Simply existing is not a valid reason for me to be your customer. You are supposed to provide me with some type of tangible benefit.
I purchased a Samsung notebook recently. It looked great online and had good reviews, but I like to FEEL the build quality and see them in person. Handily enough Best Buy stocked them. I went and played with it, decided I liked it, and then went home and purchased it at Newegg for 400 DOLLARS LESS than Best Buy.
To be fair I offered Best Buy the chance to price match Newegg. They declined.
They are replacing Blackberry phones with iPhones. I've used both keyboards extensively, and I find the iPhone keyboard no more difficult to use than the Blackberry, and with practice, I'm nominally faster on the iPhone.
Now, versus a REAL keyboard, sure, it's a PITA. That isn't what they're changing from however.
Do pollutants stop at country borders? Perhaps we should get to legislating pollution internationally too.
No one has stated that there are not benefits to federal control of certain things. The existence of certain benefits does not automatically make that option the best choice.
Odd, I would bet that some of the jocks and jock sniffers may say the same about the nerds.
I'm not a jock by any means, but I can still appreciate professional sports from time to time. In fact, I even enjoy occasionally (attempting) to play basketball, football, and especially hockey with friends. I certainly see no reason to despise someone because they made the most of society's obsession with the games they play.
Interesting tech, but a bit pointless in it's current garb. If you can get a clear line of sight to point a laser at a target, you can get a clear line of sight to shoot a bullet at the target.
I suppose it may be possible to more easily hide a laser pointing device that is painting the target compared to a gun, but considering that the weapon still needs a clear (and presumably pretty wide) flight path to the target, which also has the ability to see the laser dot the entire time this is really just an exercise in "cool but not very useful" tech.
Generally a nut, particularly with any type of locking mechanism, will be substantially thicker than the bolt head. Thus, simply using a shorter bolt (which still has sufficient thread engagement to lock the nut on appropriately) may not have solved the issue.
Perhaps adjustments to the control cable design would have resolved the issue, but simply stating "use a shorter bolt, duh" is not necessarily accurate.
FWIW, my experience on this subject comes from working on a professional racing team, I'm not retrieving this experience from my ass.
Depending on the brand, that is actually pretty typical second hand car behavior. Perhaps the poor longevity of certain car brands is more intended than I realized.
Good points and I agree with you, particularly on supporting good publishers. I am not a huge gamer. I buy 2-3 games a year most years. That said, there are certain game series and publishers I try to always support, because I want them to keep producing. In my case that's the Final Fantasy, Forza and (rife with issues as they are) Call of Duty series'. I buy these games, new, because I have consistently found their quality to be worth supporting with my money.
Most other games I borrow from a friend or buy used at GameStop a few months after release for half price, play for a while and give back or trade back in. Game quality is simply not what it once was. Very, very few games released in the past 8-10 years (without online multiplayer) are worth replaying over and over again.
That is fair enough, I am an American, and I certainly see a lot of that from other citizens also. We're certainly a long, long way from perfect, and there are a great many things we can learn from the behaviors and actions of our peers throughout the world.
That said, I do think that the "Americans are all fat, stupid cowboys who love guns" bit from people outside of the country is just as misplaced. I disagree with a LOT of what our government does but like my country and it's people in general. I'm not fat, stupid, or a cowboy, though I do like playing with guns and things that explode from time to time.
Actually, if you change the programming of a car in many states (California for example) you could have it barred from use on the road and face heavy fines.
I concur with your point, but would like to add that with a little effort put forth in research (you don't have to be a tech person to do some research) you can pick up a "half generation" old Android phone for very cheap. My HTC Evo 4G was 9 dollars with a 2 year contract, about 1.5 months ago. You can pick one up with no contract on the used market for ~150 dollars.
I realize it's not cutting edge (less CPU power mostly), but it came with 2.3 on it, and I'm currently running ICS with no issues.
The top end phones are a little better, feature wise, but not significantly enough to merit the additional expense for me. I use my phone for 95% voice/texting. Not being a "technical person" does not excuse consumers from doing some level of research before they buy. Caveat emptor.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, this is crap. If you choose not to learn how to work on a modern car, that's your own issue.
I'm not a mechanic by trade (though, admittedly I grew up with a family who races professionally) but I will take a modern car to work on over something 10+ years old any day. In fact, one of my "toy" cars is a 1988 Mazda. It's had an entire drivetrain from a 2001 GM product swapped into it, and that has in turn had even more modern electronic controls put into it.
My 2007 Infiniti is just as easy to work on as my 1987 Renault GTA was, and it's a damn sight easier to keep running well. Obviously electric/hybrid cars require a different skill set from ICE cars, but that's simply a matter of learning what to do.
BTW, many of the freelance mechanics I know are much more skilled than the average monkey at a dealership, the dealership simply has more books and specialized tools. Those are all available to the shade tree guys too, just call your Mac/Snap-On dealer.
I'm confused by this fear of technology on... Slashdot. Really guys? Come on.
I ran 4 hour care packs on all my HP stuff (when I supported servers/workstations). I can think of only 2 out of 20+ calls where I did not have the parts in my 4 hour window, and both times were parts they had to fly in overnight for me. Both of those instances had parts on my doorstep the following morning.
I do not have their techs install the parts, as they are simply slow to work (they arrive quickly, but are too unskilled to complete the task in a timely manner).
All that said, I've never owned an in warranty HP system that I did not purchase the advanced support on, so perhaps their "less advanced" support is rather poor.
So, AC, let's hear your solution to this problem. How do you recommend this is resolved? Have anything useful to add, or do you just enjoy being contrary?
I disagree. You assume a level of competence that not all consumers have. The consumers with less knowledge on the subject is exactly who they need to appeal to. Those of us with a great deal of knowledge on the subject will never be their bread and butter. They need to keep the advanced consumers happy, but they need to keep the basic people happiest.
That said, one of their major failings is that they are not appealing to either customer base at this point. Pushy, non-knowledgeable staff, plus poor pricing.
This is my opinion as well.
There is a local hobby shop here. I'm a pretty avid RC guy. I -ALWAYS- try to buy from them first. They -NEVER- have what I'm looking for. The last time I was in there, and they offered to order in what I needed, I flat out told them I'd be buying it online. Their argument was that I should support my local hobby shop, or it would cease to exist. Valid point, but why do I care if a store that does not sell what I want goes out of business? I can order the parts online myself, I will get the RIGHT part the first time, it will cost less, I will get it sooner and I don't have to drive to the store to pick it up.
Simply existing is not a valid reason for me to be your customer. You are supposed to provide me with some type of tangible benefit.
I purchased a Samsung notebook recently. It looked great online and had good reviews, but I like to FEEL the build quality and see them in person. Handily enough Best Buy stocked them. I went and played with it, decided I liked it, and then went home and purchased it at Newegg for 400 DOLLARS LESS than Best Buy. To be fair I offered Best Buy the chance to price match Newegg. They declined.
Only if we give it to the currently serving Democrat too. ;-)
They are replacing Blackberry phones with iPhones. I've used both keyboards extensively, and I find the iPhone keyboard no more difficult to use than the Blackberry, and with practice, I'm nominally faster on the iPhone.
Now, versus a REAL keyboard, sure, it's a PITA. That isn't what they're changing from however.
Don't bring math into this argument about science.
Seriously, I am with you. It's really tedious hearing the same regurgitated, under studied arguments over and over here.
An excellent and very valid post. You sir (or ma'am) are right on track.
Power is the only want to phase people in government now. And power comes from money or numbers. Period.
On the topic of fuckwits...
Do pollutants stop at country borders? Perhaps we should get to legislating pollution internationally too.
No one has stated that there are not benefits to federal control of certain things. The existence of certain benefits does not automatically make that option the best choice.
It's (59 - 10) / 7 So yes, it is an ESR.
Odd, I would bet that some of the jocks and jock sniffers may say the same about the nerds.
I'm not a jock by any means, but I can still appreciate professional sports from time to time. In fact, I even enjoy occasionally (attempting) to play basketball, football, and especially hockey with friends. I certainly see no reason to despise someone because they made the most of society's obsession with the games they play.
That's right, we need to show "those racist fucking retards" what tolerance is. I hate people that hate people.
Interesting tech, but a bit pointless in it's current garb. If you can get a clear line of sight to point a laser at a target, you can get a clear line of sight to shoot a bullet at the target.
I suppose it may be possible to more easily hide a laser pointing device that is painting the target compared to a gun, but considering that the weapon still needs a clear (and presumably pretty wide) flight path to the target, which also has the ability to see the laser dot the entire time this is really just an exercise in "cool but not very useful" tech.
Generally a nut, particularly with any type of locking mechanism, will be substantially thicker than the bolt head. Thus, simply using a shorter bolt (which still has sufficient thread engagement to lock the nut on appropriately) may not have solved the issue.
Perhaps adjustments to the control cable design would have resolved the issue, but simply stating "use a shorter bolt, duh" is not necessarily accurate.
FWIW, my experience on this subject comes from working on a professional racing team, I'm not retrieving this experience from my ass.
Depending on the brand, that is actually pretty typical second hand car behavior. Perhaps the poor longevity of certain car brands is more intended than I realized.
Good points and I agree with you, particularly on supporting good publishers. I am not a huge gamer. I buy 2-3 games a year most years. That said, there are certain game series and publishers I try to always support, because I want them to keep producing. In my case that's the Final Fantasy, Forza and (rife with issues as they are) Call of Duty series'. I buy these games, new, because I have consistently found their quality to be worth supporting with my money.
Most other games I borrow from a friend or buy used at GameStop a few months after release for half price, play for a while and give back or trade back in. Game quality is simply not what it once was. Very, very few games released in the past 8-10 years (without online multiplayer) are worth replaying over and over again.
its, not it's. Stupid cellphone auto-adjust (and stupid me, not proofreading more carefully). Perhaps I am a stupid American after all.
That is fair enough, I am an American, and I certainly see a lot of that from other citizens also. We're certainly a long, long way from perfect, and there are a great many things we can learn from the behaviors and actions of our peers throughout the world.
That said, I do think that the "Americans are all fat, stupid cowboys who love guns" bit from people outside of the country is just as misplaced. I disagree with a LOT of what our government does but like my country and it's people in general. I'm not fat, stupid, or a cowboy, though I do like playing with guns and things that explode from time to time.
This just in, people think more of their own countries than others! More at 11!
Actually, if you change the programming of a car in many states (California for example) you could have it barred from use on the road and face heavy fines.
Welcome to the People's Republic of America.
Or 40 years.
Sure, it's simple.
*CRASH*
See? Simple.
I concur with your point, but would like to add that with a little effort put forth in research (you don't have to be a tech person to do some research) you can pick up a "half generation" old Android phone for very cheap. My HTC Evo 4G was 9 dollars with a 2 year contract, about 1.5 months ago. You can pick one up with no contract on the used market for ~150 dollars.
I realize it's not cutting edge (less CPU power mostly), but it came with 2.3 on it, and I'm currently running ICS with no issues.
The top end phones are a little better, feature wise, but not significantly enough to merit the additional expense for me. I use my phone for 95% voice/texting. Not being a "technical person" does not excuse consumers from doing some level of research before they buy. Caveat emptor.