Its interesting isn't it how companies can build in obsolesce into their products? It also interesting how some manufactures can make more money from the cost of maintaining and running a product than they ever do from selling the original product. A classic example of products which make the company no money to begin with but provide income over time is ink cartridges for printers, you buy yourself a cheap printer and then when the ink runs out which it rapidly does you go to buy an ink cartridge and it cost you as much as the printer. You still buy it though as it far too much bother to change your printer for another cheap one and be caught out again.
Returning to the subject of built in obsolescence, this is less of a problem than it used to be when it comes to things such as white goods and other solid products. The reason for this is that manufactures are obliged to supply parts for these products seven years after they stop making them so repair is often now a real option. The area where built in obsolesce really does seem to still be a problem is that of software and in particular Microsoft Windows. The problem that Microsoft and probably a lot of hardware manufacturers have is that most people never use their computer to its full potential so although you can keep making better and better computers most people will never feel the need to upgrade. The most common activities carried out on computers are word processing and surfing the web, neither of which put a tremendous strain on the computer so why would you need to upgrade? And if you don't upgrade, well guess what they don't sell any computers and Microsoft don't sell any copies of its latest operating system. So they Microsoft and the computer manufacturers get round the problem by building in obsolescence.
The first and probably most effective way in which they do this is that they encourage people making software to make it incompatible with older version of windows and older computers. At lot of the time the software being released has been built to put a strain on older systems even though it is often totally unnecessary for it to do so. The second and most shocking way in which the likes of Microsoft force you to spend more money and change your computer is that programs like Microsoft windows slowly decay over time until they become unworkable, with the computer running slowly and regularly crashing. Most people when their old computer starts to slow down and go wrong assume that the computer is no longer up to the job and go and buy a new one. You do not need to buy a new computer you need to repair the windows registry. What's the Windows Registry you ask? Well it's a directory of all the programs and files that are stored by your computer. As you add and remove programs this registry becomes corrupted and your computer starts to run poorly, this problem can be easily fixed with a windows registry error repair tool so don't buy a new computer make the one you have already run like new again.
Returning to the subject of built in obsolescence, this is less of a problem than it used to be when it comes to things such as white goods and other solid products. The reason for this is that manufactures are obliged to supply parts for these products seven years after they stop making them so repair is often now a real option. The area where built in obsolesce really does seem to still be a problem is that of software and in particular Microsoft Windows. The problem that Microsoft and probably a lot of hardware manufacturers have is that most people never use their computer to its full potential so although you can keep making better and better computers most people will never feel the need to upgrade. The most common activities carried out on computers are word processing and surfing the web, neither of which put a tremendous strain on the computer so why would you need to upgrade? And if you don't upgrade, well guess what they don't sell any computers and Microsoft don't sell any copies of its latest operating system. So they Microsoft and the computer manufacturers get round the problem by building in obsolescence.
The first and probably most effective way in which they do this is that they encourage people making software to make it incompatible with older version of windows and older computers. At lot of the time the software being released has been built to put a strain on older systems even though it is often totally unnecessary for it to do so. The second and most shocking way in which the likes of Microsoft force you to spend more money and change your computer is that programs like Microsoft windows slowly decay over time until they become unworkable, with the computer running slowly and regularly crashing. Most people when their old computer starts to slow down and go wrong assume that the computer is no longer up to the job and go and buy a new one. You do not need to buy a new computer you need to repair the windows registry. What's the Windows Registry you ask? Well it's a directory of all the programs and files that are stored by your computer. As you add and remove programs this registry becomes corrupted and your computer starts to run poorly, this problem can be easily fixed with a windows registry error repair tool so don't buy a new computer make the one you have already run like new again.
