I Hate the Mindset That New Means Better.

I miss the romance of old school technology. Some things that were pretty straightforward get complicated by features.

Features, cram our everyday gadgets from cellphones to digicams to software.


Case in point, digicams: I admire the photographer who still has the instinct to look though the viewfinder of an SLR camera. I admire the photographer who understands, shutter speed, f-stop, ISO/ASA ratings and point of infinity. Leaning back with an arched back to view an LCD screen to me is so counterintuitive. Don't get me wrong I love digicams, they have taken the unnecessary expense of film and developing out of the equation. You get to view your pictures before you print them and immediately see the results of the shot.


But some cameras have done away with the viewfinder altogether. Sometimes I really need a steady shot in low lighting and I don't want to use the flash. Photographers know that the face acts as a tripod when using a camera and it's easier to brace for a shot. But without the viewfinder, holding cameras at arms length becomes a chore. Sure some cameras have anti-jitter features to steady the shot. But that I believe is an example of superfluous tech.

Just to show you how lazy has made us let me ask you this. What use is the eject button on your remote? I know what it does. Again, why is it on the remote? Does that actually eject the disc and set it in its case and file it? No. After it automatically opens you still stand up approach your player and take the disc. Sony was smart enough to take the eject button out of the remote. And that educated me into, "They're right that button doesn't need to be in the remote since you approach the player anyway."


Tape, I miss tape. I miss audio tape, old tapes, tapes that you can store shabbily for 20 years and still faithfully make music despite their age. CDs on the other hand are the most fragile of objects, a scratch renders your songs unlistenable. Format is a fast paced game, MP3, WMA, DVD-r, DVD+R sheesh it's hard to keep up. But tape, good old magnetic tape, play and dub away.


Tapes are a good long term medium between Vinyl (also prone to scratching and broken needles) and CDs (sensitive to vibrations) but hey the tape is a technological has been now. As music players go higher and higher in the storage category people will keep thinking that 12 songs in a cassette simply isn't enough music.


Mimeograph, argh no one seems to make them anymore. It's now the digital age so you get digital copiers that does what the mimeograph cannot. But hey, the mimeograph can run on hand power. In third world countries prone to power failure (or voices of the underground) it's still fast cheap and reliable. It can use old diesel engine oil as ink. How's that for consumables?

Mimeograph is the partner of the dot-matrix (impact) printer, that sturdy little workhorse that can print as much as you can give it. Of course it's low-res and not much good for pictures but for miles and miles of text it has little issues regarding broken parts, getting out of commission because of paper jams and it works with carbon and carbonized paper.


Still one of my greatest peeves is the move from Microsoft Office 2003 to the 2007 format. First time I saw it I was thinking "What the heck is all this crap!" I didn't know where everything was. And everyone kept sending files in the new incomprehensible docx (unless you were one of the proud owners of the 2007 - 2010 version). 

I've been using that interface for more than 15 years and then all of a sudden things aren't where they used to be. Not even the option to revert it to the old mode. Well the saving grace was that 2007 preserved the time honored hotkeys. Ha! Score one more for old school!

If I don't know where to point the mouse, then don't need to use it. Something many in this point and click generation have no idea how to use. Provided you know what they are, hot keys can be done on the fly without your fingers leaving the key board and stop to click your mouse or touchpad. All you do is tag-type-tag. The tag happens works as fast as capitalizing your letters instead of, type..highlight..look for the button..click, remove highlight.

Another thing I did was look for a 2007 update patch for my 2003. Ha that did it. I no longer needed to upgrade (at least not for now) my office and yet I can read and save in the 2007 format (which I don't since 2007 reads 2003 automatically anyway). So I had the layout I wanted and yet stay in the loop.

On another computer I,m familiarizing myself with the 2007 version. And it still saves in the 97-2003 format (I set it that way) as a courtesy to the people I share files with me who may have not yet upgraded.

But what has happened? Why are they fixing what ain't broke?


Manufacturers seem to be cramming more and more features to create a timed obselence from the things we buy. I have a feeling that RnD labs actually figure out dozens of applications for new technology but release them in trickles so we keep coming back for more. Evil conspiracy theory? Hardly.

That thing that you want for Christmas and been saving up for months becomes yesterday's news come March. And you suddenly envy the guy who's been envying you when you got your cool gadget becomes the guy you envy, simply because his doodad has a few hundred gigabytes more storage, a few megahertz more speed, a quarter of an inch larger screen 300 grams lighter and has Blue ray as opposed to your now obsolete HD-DVD. Like they couldn't cram all that in 6 months ago?

This is an update of an older blog post of mine. I believe this is a rant belongs to this blog.