Comment Re:this is one of my problems with 'geeks'. (Score 3, Insightful) 456
The "gradient" analogy is likewise facile. The line you draw is one-dimensional. What of other dimensions, such as exotic-ness of technology, societal cost, or economic gain? For example, the nuclear weapon is, by your standards, "old technology", yet it is certainly exotic and its age renders it no less consequential. A more thoughtful view might suggest that enonomic forces, not the "falling apart" (your term) of technology drives the adoption of new techniques vis-a-vis technology. I doubt that the "old-skewl" airport has much of a vested interest in punchcards for their own sake. Rather, the magnetic strip/punchcard approach best meets the current requirements of the airline busiess. A business, which, I might add, is hyper-competitive. I doubt that a conspiracy of "old-skewl"ers lurks behind the ticket counter. They would be non-competitive and quickly forced out of business.
All of which leads into my final point, your most vile line of reasoning, shared by those who prefer pulse dialing to touch-tone and typewriters to word processors. What rubbish! Do you expect that those 286's and Datsuns, deployed in the Western economies, would aid an enterprise that must compete and produce in the marketplace? I should think not. At what point do you draw your arbitrary line in the sand - why the 286? Why not the Z80, or better yet the abacus? A sneering, pile of blather, your post. It makes my heart ache for your poor keyboard, whose keys are that many presses closer to the end of their design life for no good reason at all. Doubtless though, you shall at that point send your partially-functional keyboard to Africa, where it shall be used to great gain by one of the many world class businesses to be found on the plains of the mighty Serengheti.
You miss the point of the discussion in your rush to be dismissive and rude to the rest of this community. Myopic indeed. -Marbury
