Technology Isn’t Always A Picnic

A few truths about technology
Truth A: People make mistakes
Technology is designed and built by people.  Many of those people spend many hours in depressing cubicles, wishing they were elsewhere.  Some are overworked, some of them helped build technology at 2am while on a tight deadline, half asleep, sitting in a depressing cubicle, wishing they were elsewhere.
You get the idea!
Truth B: Technology breaks down
Most computers still hard drives with lots of moving parts.  Hard drives can last years, but they can also break down within months.
When your hard drive goes, you will probably lose all the data stored on it (operating system, games, documents, photos, everything!).  Since there is this huge variability in the lifetime of a hard drive, you need to protect yourself against this somehow.
Just think… what would you do if your hard drive fails?
Truth C: Software has bugs
All software has bugs.  Bugs can be minor little problems (like a feature is not working properly), or major architectural flaws (this software can’t do that because it’s not in the design).  Software you buy in a nice box has bugs, software you ask someone to write for you has bugs, that’s just the way it is.
Companies can spend lots of money on testing and quality assurance, but that just reduces the likelyhood of bugs.  Web software is usually a better bet than installable applications simply because its easier to fix things, and the costs are usually lower.
Has someone told you the software you’re getting is bug free?
Truth D: Websites go down
Between your computer and the website you are trying to see, there are lots of complicated pieces of technology (see point B), with lots of software packages installed (see point C), designed by people (see point A).
You can see where this one is going.
BONUS: You get what you pay for
Sure, your friend’s son can build you a website for $100…
Sure, that hosting plan is super cheap…
Sure, that taco is way cheaper than tacos should be…
… but do you really want to pay that little for those things?

baghead

Truth A: People make mistakes

Technology is designed and built by people.  Many of those people spend many hours in depressing cubicles, wishing they were elsewhere.  Some are overworked, some of them helped build technology at 2am while on a tight deadline, half asleep, sitting in a depressing cubicle, wishing they were elsewhere.

You get the idea!

Truth B: Technology breaks down

Most computers still hard drives with lots of moving parts.  Hard drives can last years, but they can also break down within months.

When your hard drive goes, you will probably lose all the data stored on it (operating system, games, documents, photos, everything!).  Since there is this huge variability in the lifetime of a hard drive, you need to protect yourself against this somehow.

Just think… what would you do if your hard drive fails?

Truth C: Software has bugs

All software has bugs.  Bugs can be minor little problems (like a feature is not working properly), or major architectural flaws (this software can’t do that because it’s not in the design).  Software you buy in a nice box has bugs, software you ask someone to write for you has bugs, that’s just the way it is.

Companies can spend lots of money on testing and quality assurance, but that just reduces the likelyhood of bugs.  Web software is usually a better bet than installable applications simply because its easier to fix things, and the costs are usually lower.

Has someone told you the software you’re getting is bug free?

Truth D: Websites go down

Between your computer and the website you are trying to see, there are lots of complicated pieces of technology (see point B), with lots of software packages installed (see point C), designed by people (see point A).

You can see where this one is going.

BONUS: You get what you pay for

Sure, your friend’s son can build you a website for $100…

Sure, that hosting plan is super cheap…

Sure, that taco is way cheaper than tacos should be…

… but do you really want to pay that little for those things?

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Created on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009