Essay: Gambling with products
Posted: January 24th, 2015, 10:03 pmWell, I suppose you're probably familiar with the traditional gambling problem: Offer a game that presents the possibility of winning big bucks, in order to seduce people into playing it. Unfortunately for them, the chance of success is very remote, so most of them are worse off. Nonetheless, the prospect of winning is enough to keep them trying — which is great for the operator.
I'm concerned with a different type of gambling problem — the difference being that this one, instead of trying to seduce us, imposes itself on us. It's about choosing products.
Of course, there are reviews. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of incompetent reviewers — and picking out the good ones requires a degree of knowledge of the product category involved, which itself is often something of an accomplishment. Even if you know what to look for, finding it can be a crapshoot itself — as I found out recently when searching for reviews of portable electric heaters. (As I mentioned in another thread, heating is a more complex topic than is often acknowledged — as are a lot of topics, of course.) The search was in vain, and I guess we'll have to do that stuff ourselves as usual.
Like most of us, I've lost the bet several times before, and it's very frustrating. What's also noticeable (read: bleedingly obvious) is that product marketing, like betting games, operates in no small part on seduction.
And while we're at it, I guess I should take the opportunity to exchange links to especially useful websites. Of course, there's that old masterpiece, The PC Guide; while the main site has more-or-less frozen in time for almost 14 years now, the PC Buyer's Guide is almost ageless; indeed, it would be easier to count the parts that aren't still relevant.
Other useful and/or interesting sites:
Defective by Design — fighting for freedom from DRM
End Software Patents — the title is self-explanatory
Parents for Barefoot Children — not exactly computing-related, but I do think it's important. (I certainly consider reality checks to be in short supply.)
Of course, I'm as sick and tired of zero-tolerance attitudes as the rest of us are. Zero tolerance in engineering, of course, would mean infinite cost — so what do you think?
The book "In the Interests of Safety" (ISBN 978-0-7515-5349-9) is strongly recommended reading.
I'm concerned with a different type of gambling problem — the difference being that this one, instead of trying to seduce us, imposes itself on us. It's about choosing products.
Of course, there are reviews. Unfortunately, there is no shortage of incompetent reviewers — and picking out the good ones requires a degree of knowledge of the product category involved, which itself is often something of an accomplishment. Even if you know what to look for, finding it can be a crapshoot itself — as I found out recently when searching for reviews of portable electric heaters. (As I mentioned in another thread, heating is a more complex topic than is often acknowledged — as are a lot of topics, of course.) The search was in vain, and I guess we'll have to do that stuff ourselves as usual.
Like most of us, I've lost the bet several times before, and it's very frustrating. What's also noticeable (read: bleedingly obvious) is that product marketing, like betting games, operates in no small part on seduction.
And while we're at it, I guess I should take the opportunity to exchange links to especially useful websites. Of course, there's that old masterpiece, The PC Guide; while the main site has more-or-less frozen in time for almost 14 years now, the PC Buyer's Guide is almost ageless; indeed, it would be easier to count the parts that aren't still relevant.
Other useful and/or interesting sites:Defective by Design — fighting for freedom from DRM
End Software Patents — the title is self-explanatory
Parents for Barefoot Children — not exactly computing-related, but I do think it's important. (I certainly consider reality checks to be in short supply.)
Of course, I'm as sick and tired of zero-tolerance attitudes as the rest of us are. Zero tolerance in engineering, of course, would mean infinite cost — so what do you think?
The book "In the Interests of Safety" (ISBN 978-0-7515-5349-9) is strongly recommended reading.