It's all Linux's fault.
All these cool new laptops that have been coming out over the last year or so. Shiny little Dell XPS machines in cool colors with glossy beautiful displays. The new HP Mini-Note. The Mac Air. Every time I see one of these little marvels of technology, I get an acquisitive twitch in my fingers. I want one. I want them ALL. But I can't have them.
Why?
Because I stepped off the planned-obsolescence treadmill, that's why, and I don't NEED it.
My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 600m. Centrino processor, 1GB of RAM, unexceptional in every way except for the high-resolution display, for which I paid extra when I bought it. It's three and a half years old now, and probably worth less than $250 on ebay. It's traveled all over the country with me, getting constant use, and hasn't fallen apart, so strike one reason for getting a new one. But I usually take good care of my stuff anyway.
Here's the crux. In the past I would have replaced this machine by now for being underpowered. And if I wanted Vista, I'd need to. There's no way this machine could run anything more than Vista Home Basic, if that. But I switched it over to Ubuntu a year or more ago now, and so that push to upgrade is gone. I have everything I could want on it, including fancy 3D desktop eye candy. It boots up quickly, it runs flawlessly, and I never feel slow or constrained when I'm using it. It's just fine as it is, without tweaking or defragging or all the other relentless twiddling that XP used to force on me before I switched it over. And unless Ubuntu and all the other distros suddenly get an attack of MS fever and bloat up like Jerry Lewis, it will stay that way and continue to be "just fine as it is" until something important breaks or fries.
So, because of Linux, I don't need a new laptop and I'm not letting myself get one. I didn't install Ubuntu for that reason; I did it because I was switching over to Linux completely, on principle, rather than buy into Vista in all its unscrupulous, bug-ridden glory. Saving money on upgrades is an unexpected side effect. And I have to say it's not altogether welcome. It's good for me to be more frugal, but damn, it's frustrating to keep my wallet in my pocket when these shiny new toys are so tempting.
Maybe this is why the major players have been so hesitant to adopt Linux - not because they fear to anger the Gods of Redmond, but because they know Microsoft users need constant hardware upgrades and Linux users don't. What kind of customer would you prefer, if you were selling hardware?
All these cool new laptops that have been coming out over the last year or so. Shiny little Dell XPS machines in cool colors with glossy beautiful displays. The new HP Mini-Note. The Mac Air. Every time I see one of these little marvels of technology, I get an acquisitive twitch in my fingers. I want one. I want them ALL. But I can't have them.
Why?
Because I stepped off the planned-obsolescence treadmill, that's why, and I don't NEED it.
My current laptop is a Dell Inspiron 600m. Centrino processor, 1GB of RAM, unexceptional in every way except for the high-resolution display, for which I paid extra when I bought it. It's three and a half years old now, and probably worth less than $250 on ebay. It's traveled all over the country with me, getting constant use, and hasn't fallen apart, so strike one reason for getting a new one. But I usually take good care of my stuff anyway.
Here's the crux. In the past I would have replaced this machine by now for being underpowered. And if I wanted Vista, I'd need to. There's no way this machine could run anything more than Vista Home Basic, if that. But I switched it over to Ubuntu a year or more ago now, and so that push to upgrade is gone. I have everything I could want on it, including fancy 3D desktop eye candy. It boots up quickly, it runs flawlessly, and I never feel slow or constrained when I'm using it. It's just fine as it is, without tweaking or defragging or all the other relentless twiddling that XP used to force on me before I switched it over. And unless Ubuntu and all the other distros suddenly get an attack of MS fever and bloat up like Jerry Lewis, it will stay that way and continue to be "just fine as it is" until something important breaks or fries.
So, because of Linux, I don't need a new laptop and I'm not letting myself get one. I didn't install Ubuntu for that reason; I did it because I was switching over to Linux completely, on principle, rather than buy into Vista in all its unscrupulous, bug-ridden glory. Saving money on upgrades is an unexpected side effect. And I have to say it's not altogether welcome. It's good for me to be more frugal, but damn, it's frustrating to keep my wallet in my pocket when these shiny new toys are so tempting.
Maybe this is why the major players have been so hesitant to adopt Linux - not because they fear to anger the Gods of Redmond, but because they know Microsoft users need constant hardware upgrades and Linux users don't. What kind of customer would you prefer, if you were selling hardware?
Loading...