It all comes down to whether a person has the "how do things work" hacker mindset. It sounds like our "IT career path" started off pretty similarly... I actually went to a decent school for computer science with the hopes of someday working on games. What I learned in my time there (and particularly while writing "Asteroids" from scratch for my senior project) was: I don't like programming. I enjoyed breaking a problem down into discrete components, and I enjoyed getting results, but I loathed the tedium that was the actual programming.

Now I'm a Systems Engineer, and I much prefer working with the physical components, or even just the jigsaw puzzle of pre-written software. I like how all the pieces fit together to make an enterprise environment. My hobby is collecting, restoring, and repairing classic arcade games and pinball machines. Again, how do all the pieces work together? That's what interests me more than playing them.

Kids today are "consumers" of computer technology, much like our generation spent countless hours in front of the TV watching Yogi Bear or playing our Atari VCS but had no idea how they worked. My father knew how to open up a TV and replace the vacuum tubes, because "back then" you needed to do more care and feeding of that technology. By the time I was around, TVs were more reliable, more common, and cheaper... they were magical boxes that generally just worked. I think, by and large, computer technology has followed a similar arc.

I dunno... I'm rambling. Time for me to go home and throw the Millenials off my lawn.

This is all so true... and your last paragraph sums up perfectly what I've been trying to explain to people who say "kids today know so much about computers!" I'm stealing it, if you don't mind.

I'd reckon that the Wii has an installed user base more than triple both the Jaguar and 32X combined. They were not marketing it to hard core gamers, they were marketing it to casual gamers and families. I've seen Wiis sitting on the shelves of people whom I'd never classify as a "gamer"... couples with no kids, single women, older folks, etc. I think Wii Fit planted it in many homes of people who were looking for a "fun" way to improve their physical condition (whether or not it actually worked for that, well, I'd lean toward not). Do those people really ever USE their Wii? Probably not. A girl I'm seeing had a Wii but never used it. Somebody must have brought over Mario Kart to play, and left it in the drive... she didn't even know it was there. When I showed her how to set it up on her WiFi and stream movies to it via Netflix she was shocked; now she uses it often... but only for Netflix. Occasionally for NES Super Mario Bros (after I showed her how to download that).

In the case of most consoles, the manufacturer takes a loss on the hardware, and makes their money on the software... I guess it's fair to say that many casual Wii owners haven't spent much money on software, and maybe that worked against Nintendo from the numbers perspective, but they sold a SHITLOAD of them, and you just can't call it a failure, IMHO.

As an aside, I have (had) a Wii and used it quite a bit. There are many terrific and different games available for it. These days it seems like hardcore gaming is synonymous with FPS. I like FPS fine, and am currently working through Halo Reach, but I also get burned out on them, and being able to play Zak and Wiki or one of the new Monkey Island games, or even Super Mario Galaxy is a fantastic change of pace. The 360 just doesn't have that variety of titles that I've seen.

I don't have to try. All natural, baby.

Dude, did you seriously just lump the Wii in with Jaguar and 32X? You might want to go take a quick peek at some sales numbers for the Wii before calling it a 'failure'. If the 360 has surpassed the Wii in sales, it's because they break and people replace them. It's not at all uncommon to hear a gamer say "I'm on my third 360." Kid at Target even said he was on his fourth as he was ringing mine up (I finally gave in and got one for the kids). Don't get me wrong, I think the 360 is a great system, I like it a lot and play it whenever my kids aren't around, but to call the Wii a failure is just dishonest.

Then, as a spelling Nazi, I assume you didn't actually mean "Unless they lose it somewhere.

You know, it's funny you should say that. In just the first week following FB's IPO, I got no less than three invitations to G+ from people in my friends list on FB. I'd been wanting to make the jump there anyway because I like the idea of "circles" (no need for my young kids to see the sort of blue humor my college friends and I engage in), but didn't bother because it seemed like a wasteland.

It's rainin' men... Halleluja!!

Methinks perhaps you meant 'participation'. :^)

Same here. As a high school senior, I used to work at (now-defunct) Fretter, which was a local appliance and electronics chain before Circuit City came to our area and closed them down. I was put, predictably, in the computer department. I would get hassled (and also much smaller commission checks) for selling people on the superior AST computers as opposed to the garbage (but higher-profit-margin) Packard Bells.

Honesty was not the best policy if you were trying to make a living as a salesman there. Several of the other guys would simply outright lie to customers, and it blew my mind that management had no problem with it. I swear, one of the guys was a pathological liar... but, man, he did OK for himself.

Or a big-ass slingshot and anger.

I would have to guess that electromagnetically wreaking havoc on the disk with a tape eraser or degausser would be a lot quicker than physically disassembling the disk... the platters aren't going to "shatter" anyway.

You're that guy at the party who ruins a good joke with 'facts', aren't you?

In any event, assuming you've got the resources, rather than running DBAN on a failed disk, you put a few holes in it with a drill press and fill it with epoxy.

OR, use a bulk tape eraser/degaussing wand on it for a little bit.

Ask and ye shall receive.

http://www.adek.com/ATX-motherboards.html [Adek Motherboards]

Not curious enough to send a RFQ, but maybe I'll be able to replace my old 486 that I've been using with my EPROM burner all these years. And, no, don't tell me about Willem burners... they suck.

I thought China was our majority debtor.