Saturday, September 09, 2006
Another victim of planned obsolescence
Pride goeth before a fall. Here I've been bragging of late about my wonderful Hewlett Packard LaserJet IIP plus - don't forget the "plus" [italics in original] - printer: how I've had it since the 80s, how it's indestructible, how reliable it is, and so on. Actually, as best as I can determine, I got it in 1989 - when I was still using WordPerfect 5.0 (for DOS, my friends, if you know what that is). And it has been virtually indestructible. I think I've only had it serviced twice in 17 years, and neither job was major. It still cranks out page after page of clean print. So what is my problem?
The rest of the world has passed old IIPplus by, that's what. I went to Circuit City today to get an adapter or convertor, something into which I could insert the huge parallel port plug of the printer and in turn that could be plugged into a USB port of my new notebook. They didn't have one. So I walked down (from Yonge and St. Clair, with my stumpy leg) to Computer Row at Spadina and College. At the first place I tried, Computer Systems Centre, a pleasant young man told me that they don't carry them any more because they didn't work - customers kept returning them. The second place I tried used to have them, but no more. At the third place, to my surprise, there was one hanging on the wall right behind the cash. I saw it as soon as I went up to the counter.
But when I asked the owner if it would work with my printer, he laughed. Laughed, I tell you. Oh no, IIP is II old. Once again, I was asked: "Why don't you just buy a new printer?" Why? Because my old printer is perfectly fine. Indeed, I'm sure it's better than any damn new printer that will replace it - and which will undoubtedly have its own obsolescence built in. It's a throwaway consumer culture, and why not? I don't remember now what I paid for the IIP, but it was substantial - probably something around $1,500. The one I ordered today, and it's a Hewlett Packard and a laser jet, is $149. Gee, why not order two?
It is no wonder to me that people are so attracted to quaint items like fountain pens. You could, if you were lucky, find a pen made 75 years ago that looks as good - and works as well - today as it did then; and looks as good and works as well as one made today, since basically it is being made the same way. Some technologies - I read recently that the pneumatic tube has never gone completely out of use for this reason, and is now coming back into fashion - have simply never been improved upon, and perhaps never shall. They are perfect, or damn near.
Well, my IIPplus wasn't perfect, but it was damned good, and I'll miss it. I think I'll store it in my own private little Smithsonian, and some day I'll crank it up for my grandchildren and show them what a printer looked like before the turn of the century. But wait. What will I connect it to? At least I can show them the self-test. Assuming they know what print is.
The rest of the world has passed old IIPplus by, that's what. I went to Circuit City today to get an adapter or convertor, something into which I could insert the huge parallel port plug of the printer and in turn that could be plugged into a USB port of my new notebook. They didn't have one. So I walked down (from Yonge and St. Clair, with my stumpy leg) to Computer Row at Spadina and College. At the first place I tried, Computer Systems Centre, a pleasant young man told me that they don't carry them any more because they didn't work - customers kept returning them. The second place I tried used to have them, but no more. At the third place, to my surprise, there was one hanging on the wall right behind the cash. I saw it as soon as I went up to the counter.
But when I asked the owner if it would work with my printer, he laughed. Laughed, I tell you. Oh no, IIP is II old. Once again, I was asked: "Why don't you just buy a new printer?" Why? Because my old printer is perfectly fine. Indeed, I'm sure it's better than any damn new printer that will replace it - and which will undoubtedly have its own obsolescence built in. It's a throwaway consumer culture, and why not? I don't remember now what I paid for the IIP, but it was substantial - probably something around $1,500. The one I ordered today, and it's a Hewlett Packard and a laser jet, is $149. Gee, why not order two?
It is no wonder to me that people are so attracted to quaint items like fountain pens. You could, if you were lucky, find a pen made 75 years ago that looks as good - and works as well - today as it did then; and looks as good and works as well as one made today, since basically it is being made the same way. Some technologies - I read recently that the pneumatic tube has never gone completely out of use for this reason, and is now coming back into fashion - have simply never been improved upon, and perhaps never shall. They are perfect, or damn near.
Well, my IIPplus wasn't perfect, but it was damned good, and I'll miss it. I think I'll store it in my own private little Smithsonian, and some day I'll crank it up for my grandchildren and show them what a printer looked like before the turn of the century. But wait. What will I connect it to? At least I can show them the self-test. Assuming they know what print is.
# posted by Stephen @ 4:18 p.m. 
