Planned Obsolescence

I firmly believe certain industries take into account planned obsolescence of their product when determining its minimum lifespan. Computers are a perfect example. You've all heard the jokes about how you could go to the store and purchase the highest grade, top of the line, most zeros in the cost computer. By the time that you get it home, set up, plugged in, and running; they've released a newer, faster, easier to use model. This fact has obviously contributed to the computer industries decisions on lifespan of the materials.

Take my computer for example. You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything since the initial night I decided to join the blogger world. There is a justified reason. I am just now able to use my computer. We purchased this new model about 3 years ago. In previous cases, we had used old obsolete computers that relatives had given us. We may have added bits of hardware here, reprogrammed software there. Well we had finally had enough. We went out and purchased a moderately top of the line retail computer. It had bells, it had whistles. It could store as much junk as we wanted. There was one recognized risk however. A family member warned us about the model we purchased. "It's a great computer, but after about 3 years it begins to fall apart."

Well, you could set your calendar by the 3 years it took this computer to start falling apart. First was the hard drive. Usually when you lose a hard drive you think virus, software problem. No, my hard drive cracked. I mean cracked physically, as in broken, as in broken beyond repair. Almost 3 years to the day after we bought the computer. After a while of waiting for a friend to repair it, we finally got it back. Of course it will never be the same computer. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my wife's name spelled correctly in her profile.

But then, the other night topped the cake. As I sat down to add to my newest endeavor. I couldn't turn on my monitor. It hadn't come unplugged, it wasn't bugging out. The power button had pushed into the housing. It simply broke, physically. So it took me 3 days to take the monitor apart, glue the PLASTIC button back into the housing, and then put the housing back together.

Now I sit typing this long rendition of why I think computer manufacturers know that most people won't keep their computers more than 3 years. And those that will, won't be able to because they'll be in pieces. So next time you make a large purchase, be sure to think about how long you plan on keeping the product. Then wonder if the product plans on keeping you that long.