Change

Technology is becoming harder to explain, and even more difficult to understand. The new Intel Core2 Duo, for instance, may run at a slower speed, it's much faster. The clock speed of a chip is no longer the strong selling point. A Core2 Duo running at 2 Ghz would be somewhat comparable to a 7 Ghz chip. But, the Core2 Duo would use less power, and generate less heat. Supposedly.

Now, if you're not a techy, the previous paragraph probably made little sense. More likely, after the second sentence, you skipped to this one. So did everyone else.

What the techy world misses is that the average person just wants their equipment to work, and work well. They want it to be fast. They don't care if it's in gigahertz, megahertz, or hertz rent-a-car.

The ads might as well say, "This computer has more torque than any other computer in it's class." It would make as much sense to the average user.

My point?
We've got millions of pounds of older equipment around that work just fine. The computer I'm using right now is probably three to four years old, but with Linux, it's fast. I also have WindowsXP Professional on this computer, and it's more than fast enough, but Linux is way faster.

Contrary to popular belief, I'm not preaching the gospel of Linux. I am pointing out that most people don't need to upgrade their hardware, they need to convert their Operation System to a more efficent one.

I do appreciate good hardware, and am looking forward to hearing more about systems like the Dell XPS 700, or the Alienware Aurora ALX.

Personally, I'd go for the Aurora ALX. But, I don't need it. I have no use for four water-cooled graphics cards. Four hard drives. I'm not a gamer. Not an engineer. Not even good at math. Maybe conceptual math, but not good at numbers. The more I use older, lower-end equipment, the more in learn that it's still more than good enough.

I highly encourage you to keep your old equipment, and find ways to keep it in use. If you have a 600 Mhz computer, or anything Pentium II, load Xubuntu on it. Keep it, or give it away, but don't throw it away. We don't need to trash up things more, especially with something that still works just fine.

My Prediction

In the next few years, a cottage industry will arise with the purpose of keeping old equipment in use. Services will come forth that will provide support for those systems, for only a few dollars. We use to have the friendly neighborhood shade-tree mechanic. Now, we'll have the friendly neighborhood shade-tree geek.

Maybe, it could be me?