Sun Monitor (UK) (2)

From: Bill Yakowenko <yakowenk_at_cs.unc.edu>
Date: Wed Jul 21 13:27:15 1999

From: yakowenk_at_csx.unxc.edu (remove x's)

On Tue, 20 Jul 1999, "Richard Erlacher" wrote:
] Well, if it's an industry, it's not a hoby to everyone, and the state it's
] gotten into is PROFITABLE, which means it will be around a while longer.
] ...
] I guess if you only want to do what people did 20 years
] ago, then fixing stuff isn't a priority, since it will be much more of an
] antique once you get it fixed. I always figured it's good to know what is
] happening out there now. That's particularly true since that's how I intend
] to continue making my living.
]
] What the computer industry is about is MAKING MONEY. It's good that there
] are some people working in the industry who realize that it's about GETTING
] PAID, and not so much about having fun.

I think maybe you have a little case of tunnel-vision here. The goal
is not just "get a working monitor". And "$MAKE MONEY FAST$" is not
even vaguely a part of the equation. The bottom line is that he wants
to fix it, and there definitely are benefits to doing that. The financial
bottom line may not show them, but they are there. Those dollar signs
on the bottom line don't show the whole quality-of-life picture, just
one aspect of it.

Zoom out and look at the whole picture. Having dollars in your pocket
are certainly a good thing. But having toxic waste buried everywhere
is not. Having megacorporations trampling civil rights is not. Having
bored geeks is not. Having people who don't understand the world they
live in, but vote about it anyway, is not. These things may not all
be connected to Tony's monitor, but they are all results of seeing only
the financial bottom line. Somebody makes a big profit in causing each
of those things. Money in their pocket; crap for the rest of the world.
Keep that in mind, and think about everything that is affected by the
decision of repair vs. buy new: where the physical material goes, where
the money goes, whose mental states are changed and in what ways, etc..
Then, repairing an old monitor instead of buying a new cheap one makes
a lot more sense. You don't enjoy it yourself, fine, for you the
holistic bottom line is still a no-go. For others it can go positive.

So lets not have any more "your hobby is a waste of time" talk, OK?
Especially when that hobby is the raison-d'etre for this list.

Okay, end of rant.

        Bill.
Received on Wed Jul 21 1999 - 13:27:15 BST