jeff wrote:
>On Saturday 05 November 2005 11:29 am, Eben King wrote:
>
>
>>I don't think there _are_ any purely $NATIONAL_ORIGIN vehicles any more --
>>look into where the parts/components come from, and they likely come
>>from/are assembled all over.
>>
>>
>
>Very true. Even Harley-Davidson, despite their all American image, has been
>doing that for decades. They use Bosch and Nippondenso electronics. Even the
>V-Rod was designed by Porsche. We live in a global community these days.
>
>
>
This is very true. My original point here was not to get into some
essoterric OT discussion, but to make the point that industry-driven
corporate consumerism will not allow a perfect product. Personally, I
don't like "products" as such. That's my biggest gripe with M$. It is
not about making a quality product for it's customers, it is about
making money for the giant that it is. I very much doubt that Bill
Gates has anything to do with it. Just as in the automotive industry,
mass-produced cabinetry, electronics, government, or anything else
produced on a corporate level, the product released is the end of a
battle in the beaurocracy between the designers, engineers, marketers,
politicians and anyone else who can justify needing their two cents in
there. Their arguements are petty and short-sighted as is evident in
the end product. I would give some better examples of this, but I don't
really know where to start. I really can't think of many
end-user-products that I don't have complaints about that could have
been easily corrected if they had been designed and built by individuals
instead of committees that couldn't agree and so had to compramise at
the expense of the consumer. This is why I personally like the
functionality of open-source software. If you don't like it, change
it. On top of that, it is not so profit-driven. I realize that a lot
of it is still, but due to the nature of the GPL, software is written
more for functionality than for enterprise. As far as M$ is concerned,
it doesn't really matter how GOOD the product is as long as they can
market it, and the fact of the matter is that ANYTHING can be marketed.
(Remember pet-rocks?) This is why I very much doubt that we will see an
amazing new product come out of the giant. The tiger cannot change his
stripes, and the more things change, the more they stay the same ultimately.
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