>
>> All right, I have taken this for a while, but no more. This ignorance
>> about Soviet technology and abilities is ridiculous. I think you
>> people have kept your anti-communist opinions along with you IBM
>> 704s.
>>
>> Although the USSR certainly had ridiculous administration, and its
>> technology was not very modern, there were many advances by the
>> soviet union, and it now has just as much technology as the US.
>>
>
>The soviets always had comparable technology, but were limited by
>inefficient manufacturing and logistics. Those only exposed to western
>design philosophy tend to belittle soviet engineers because of the
>seemingly crude appearance of their equipment, but they had to meet
>vastly different product requirements. Their export market was the
>underdeveloped third world, no infrastructure at all. When your target
>market is some place like Mongolia, Eritrea or South Yemen you have an
>entirely different set of design parameters. There is no Radio Shack
>down the corner, no parts store in town, no UPS delivery service. Even
Why Radio Shack when you have BFI? I can just imagine a fried US
made cell phone flying into a third-world bonfire...that sure would
stink. Another reason why Russian products were build to last was,
very simply, because if you trash your phone, you'd have to get on
a two-month waiting list to get another one.
> Jack Peacock
>
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Received on Wed Apr 15 1998 - 20:21:25 BST