I swear, everything we get from Ace breaks.
The plumbing parts? Bought a PVC to hose connector?
Broke right off when attaching a hose.
Tool handles break. What kind of industry machines a sound, metal blade, and attaches it to a handle that’s going to bend and break off.
Pump clip-on’s break…a bicycle pump should be sturdy enough to have a clip attach to a tire and detach without falling off in your hand the first time you use it. Fluke? Nay. We had two. I didn’t learn the first time.
I just do not get the economy of stuff that has good heavy, proper parts and then some ‘save-a-half-penny’ connector that’s a wonder it held up to get put on at the factory…
Most people will buy cheap. Cheap lets stores profit more. Most people will not return stuff, especially when they bought it just-in-case a year ago. So, buy from the low bidder and get increased profits and sales.
My particular irritation is that everyone (Lowes, HD) carries the same batha-dung toilet flapper valve which constantly leaks. Always, every one. With the same flimsy plastic chain, always prone to breaking or getting sucked into the flapper if it’s not perfect length.
There’s a store in my area that does plumbing parts and supplies, and nothing else. We love it.
The Scots say, “I’m too poor to buy cheap.”
Walmart did it to you, advertizing “Lower prices everyday!” It’s not that they buy from the low bidder–they get them all into little rooms and force them to cut a penny more, a penny more, a penny more. Suppliers can, by making it cheaper.
It’s itinerant jobs, not workers, jobs . They go overseas, like somehow American consumers whose consumption drives 2/3 of the economy will have magical money to buy their products even if American factories were forced to close because retailers wouldn’t support them. Look at the trail they leave behind them: Japan, Mexican maquiladoras, Singapore, Maylasia & Indonesia, Bangladesh, et al. Sure where ever they go eventually the workers gain some prosperity, until there’s someplace else with cheaper labor costs. Then the factories leave their workers behind and go. Where to next? Africa.
Our local Ace is a pretty good place. Walk in and there’s are a dozen guys working there, all grayhaired! That’s a clue. It’s up to the franchise.
Walmart couldn’t have done it without the support of the American public. Given a choice, too many people will pay less for an inferior product instead of more for one that is made well out of good materials. There is a reason China has been given “most favored nation” status. It’s great for them, not so good for us. As for hardware stores, I miss the old-fashioned kind, where the employees knew a lot about the products and could advise you on DIY projects. Now you go to a big box store (where they can be helpful in finding items, sure) but they’ll hand you a brochure to answer your questions. And the turnover is huge, so even if you find a knowledgeable employee, they may not be there the next time you come (or they’re only part time and hard to pin down).
When Sam Walton still ran the company, he claimed that he would stock his shelves with U.S. made products at a reasonable price.
What I’ve seen with the company after Sam died is what seems to be the typical fate of family-owned companies. The descendants and heirs don’t have the same vision that the founder had, and instead of bringing a quality product to the customer, the focus is more on the greatest return on the money spent by the company. Now, in basic economics, this isn’t a bad thing, as the purpose is to make money and to ensure that the shareholders get the maximum return on their investments – otherwise, they divest, and your company tanks. However, I’ve also seen the squabbles that the Walton family scions have, and I’m not sure that it’s best for the company.
I shop at Walmart, not because I’m cheap, but because there are things that are available there that I can get at what I feel is a reasonable price. I also go to places like Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Menard’s, as well as my local hardware store for things I can get. My local hardware store sells very good quality power equipment, made in the U.S. (Virginia Beach, VA, to be precise), and they repair and tune up that equipment, too. People used to shop at Sears for the same reasons – good quality products, reasonable prices. When I buy something at Walmart, it’s something that’s not going to be used for a very long duration, such as light bulbs, or air filters, or batteries, and motor oil. Sometimes I’ll buy the storage containers, and yes, I bought my last waffle iron at Walmart.
Unfortunately, most of the stuff I see on the shelves is not all that great. I can definitely see a decline in the quality of durable goods. Things that I used to help manufacture here in Ohio now are made in China and perform very poorly compared to those products we made. Even some of the things that are still made in the U.S. are of much lower quality than the things we made in the 1970s. Try finding a decent, well-made cast iron skillet. The ones out on the market today would never have left our factory in 1973……even the “higher priced” skillets.
My father’s lawn tractor was built by a US company that stopped making stuff for WalMart, because they felt that they couldn’t provide the quality customers wanted for the price they were being asked to sell at: they’d have been losing money.
My own experience is that at least some of what is being sold at WalMart is factory seconds: stuff that should have been scrapped. (I bought a four-setting set of flatware; one of the knives was entirely different, and two of the forks were malformed. It was Major Name stuff, and I complained to the Major Name.)
I beg to differ. The primary goal of business is not profit, but to remain in business. Profit is a consequence of doing business, not the cause, i.e. business first, profits follow success.
As I recently wrote elsewhere: I disagree with most of the characterizations of the Pope’s encyclical as “anti-capitalistic”. Because I disagree with the characterization that capitalism is all about profits, first and foremost. Capitalism is about the accumulation of excess capital in amounts that can be effective in business formation and expansion. “Profit is the consequence of business, not the cause.” [quoting myself]
So, as I see it, it’s Wall Street’s activities over the past couple decades that has led to individuals’ perceptions of corruption, fraud and mistrust, leading the public to withdraw from investing, that is anticapitalistic. If they want me to invest my money, they have to show me I can trust them for a fair and honest deal. Nobody believes that, especially not the Street!
I’ll disagree with your assessment. I am quoting MY business administration professors….if the business is to remain in business, it must show a profit. I never said profit was the cause of doing business, it’s the goal, not the cause. There is a difference. My goal might be to make $10 million dollars for my company, my cause might be because I have 100,000 investors who have put up money to further that company. They’re not the same….
But — If the people who run the company or the people who vote and fund the company (board members, stock holders) believe that the primary function is to make a profit (for themselves and maybe for the business) and if they and thereby the company policies act as such — Then can we really say that the primary function of that business is to remain in business? Or is it to make a profit (and not necessarily for the business or employees, but for the people in power or making money off it)?
I ask that, because I think it’s likely a number of large businesses (corporations) have forgotten both about the need to stay in business and about the need to pay and satiisfy their employees and make goods / services that will satisfy their customers.
Both Walmart and the grocery store chain at which I shop have reduced employees and employee hours, in order to maximize profit. Employees come in, not for 8 hours or 4 hours, but for 2 hours per employee, many of them. So they have to have more than one job to live. The quality of both stores / chains has gone down because of it, the level of service, the selection, and the quality of goods sold.
These days, I shop at Walmart not because I want to, but only when I have to. I would generally rather buy from somewhere else.
And overall, a *lot* of manufactured goods are coming in from China or other Asian countries. Sometimes, the quality is good, but it can be uneven or poor quality. Case in point: I was surprised the first time I ordered something from Amazon, thinking it was from a US store, if not necessarily manufactured here; and instead, it was shipped to me from China, in that case. Since then, I’ve learned to be more careful, but still, this can happen, or there isn’t a readily findable / available US source (again, a store here that sells to the customer, whether it’s made in the US or in Asia).
I don’t mind if the goods are good quality and arrive quickly. But if it takes months and I have to pick up at the post office sometimes, for something quite ordinary, well, that’s not so nice. I like international trade and people. But I would also rather buy locally whenever possible. These days, though, I have been by local stores, here in a large city, where they should be well stocked, and have had to go back home and order online — to the point that I now order more online in the first place. (My vision is a factor in favor of that, though, too.) But I went to the local store to get it locally, that day, and use it then, and have my money feed into the local economy where possible.
When people here need work, would be happy to get the jobs, and yet the jobs (and production) are sent overseas instead, that is not a good thing for local people, the local economy, and not good if there should ever develop any trade problems or, ah, political disagreements (or worse) between some other nation and the US. (Or, for that matter, a second and third nation, in which one or both become unfriendly to each other or to the US).
It would be nice if they’d ALL (local and overseas) realize that producing quality goods that last a long time is better all around. It’s, to borrow a current buzzword, “Green,” environmentally friendly, not wasteful. There will almost always be more people who need another new widget.
…Oops, I see I went far afield of my own starting topic. Sorry…
Summary: Yep, Goods and services, not what they used to be.– I wish businesses would wise up.
It is a strange situation nowadays.
I also have to disagree for public companies. If such companies do not produce competitive dividends and/or stock price appreciation, they will be sold, further reducing the price of the stock. A company may enter a death spiral. Arguably, Sears is in such a state.
One “cure” is to sell the most profitable parts of the company in order to fund higher dividend payments, and perhaps restructuring for the remaining parts of the company. This is obviously a limited strategy.
A similar strategy is to spin off divisions into independent corporations while taking money from them. For example, Sears spun off Lands’ End while saddling them with half a billion dollars in debt and numerous service payments to Sears. This arrangement was used because no one would buy LE at a price Sears liked. Even so, the value of Lands’ End is estimated to have dropped from $1.9B when Sears bought it about ten years ago to $0.8B today.
Another “cure” is bankruptcy reorganization, such as General Motors. However, this is technically the destruction of the old company and creation of a new company who buys the trademarks of the old company.
@Joe/Walt At this moment I am listening to the local classical music station, KQAC, allclassical.org, a nonprofit corporation, being disinterested in this evening’s shows on Oregon Public Broadcasting. Neither make a profit, yet they stay in business. Profit is not a necessity.
If businesses were to be eliminated if they were unprofitable, we’d have to practice “business infanticide”, because most don’t make profits for some years. And we’d have no airlines, which are often unprofitable for years at a stretch. If all a shareholder wants is immediate profit, then just liquidate, take the money and run. As I said above, profit is the consequence of business success, without ongoing business there is no profit–get the cause and effect straight. Business development is a cost that subtracts from profits, yet without it a business’ future is bleak.
As a reductio-ad-absurdum “thought experiment” I offer a cartoon I saw decades ago: a “suit” is looking over his totally automated factory floor of machines. In a bubble over his head he’s thinking, “Maybe if I had some employees there’d be somebody who could buy my products.” The reason for such a slow recovery from the 2008 Financial Crash has been lack of demand–consumers weren’t buying. The consumer is 2/3 of the economy and their balance sheets were severely damaged, unemployment was high, U6 historically so, and wages were down because they could, workers were desperate.
Now employment is up, wages slowly improving but still historically low, and people feel better. The FOMC has been concerned about the wage cost being too low, because wages fuel demand!
But for the most part you’re right in that the financial community has had a meme of profits first and foremost, and now! So, to quote Dr Phil, “How’s that working for you?” Just how robust do you think our economy is?
To quote Milton Friedman, “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” So we had two “once in a century” market crashes a decade apart. I’d say the results of this current meme suggest it’s seriously flawed.
Paul, those are charitable organizations, not the “public companies” I spoke of.
Small businesses are not public, but they must make money quickly or they will fail, like most restaurants. Under the right conditions, even public companies can go without profits for a time, but investors must believe the company will return to profitability; that risk is folded into the stock price. Airlines lose money just like every Hollywood movie ever made has lost money: creative accounting. A few public companies have the track record or inherent need to operate on a longer than quarter to quarter timeframe; e.g., Boeing, Intel, Ford.
However, you are quite right that our economy is not as efficient as it could be. If someone with little money gets more, they usually spend it immediately in the local economy; if someone with a lot of money gets still more, if he spends it the money may go outside the local or US economy while if he invests it–suppose you’re a business owner: do you want customers or someone else to loan you money at current rates? The first is what you’re in business for; the second is relatively useless.
@Joe “People used to shop at Sears for the same reasons – good quality products, reasonable prices.”
And we know what happened to Sears when they abandoned that business model and lost that reputation, right?
“If businesses were to be eliminated because they were unprofitable, we’d have to practice ‘business infanticide’, because most don’t make profits in some years.”
I believe that’s an overly simplistic view. Most investors – the serious investors, not your “day-trader” – realize that there are going to be “growing pains”. Venture capitalists fund a lot of start-up businesses on the hope or expectation that those businesses will profit eventually, and the VC can sell their shares for a very good return on their initial investments.
BCS, you have to remember that in any public company, the Boards of Directors are elected by the shareholders holding common stock. There is also a law that requires the Directors to hold a certain number of shares in their own company. The CEO is hired by the Board of Directors, and is accountable to the Board for the performance of the company. If the CEO fails to meet the requirements set forth in the contract with the company, the Board of Directors is within their rights to terminate the employment. Of course, there are lots of “golden parachutes” and contingency conditions in those contracts. CEOs of major corporations hardly ever go broke when they get fired. Directors who line their own pockets at the expense of the shareholders are in danger of being unseated, or, if the federal government gets involved, some serious fines. (I note that the five big banks, including JPMorgan, Citibank, and Chase, were all found guilty of collusion in a currency-fixing scheme. Not a single one of the executives who collaborated and participated in this scheme are going to face any jail time or fines. The banks will end up paying fines of around $5 billion – $5,000,000,000 – which they consider the cost of doing business and can write off as an expense when they file their corporate taxes. Maybe they should be dealt with as the executives in Iceland were dealt with.) I might have only 1,000 shares in a publicly-traded company, but that company’s Board of Directors still works for me in some way, and my vote does count. Sure, you can say that my percentage of holdings is so small that my vote doesn’t count – but like voting in political elections, if I don’t vote, I get the results I deserve.)
NASA has released new video of Ceres on a more interesting note. (I couldn’t manage to get a usable link, but you can find it easily enough I expect.) That puppy’s had a hard life!
Have you seen the videos of Pluto and Charon orbiting their barycenter?
There is a cone, which some are calling a ‘pyramid’ on Ceres.
Aliens.
😉
That ball of ice trying to be a planet is proving real interesting.
If there is in fact water in some format on Ceres, I’d say it’s more likely to be a ‘volcanic’ cone made by venting vapor.
I’ve gotten into the habit of saving the pieces that don’t break, when something else gives way. I had 2 large plastic beverage dispensers that I kept full of iced tea in the fridge. After a year or two, one started leaking around the dispenser; pressure on the jug whenever we poured some tea eventually enlarged the hole for the valve to the point where it wouldn’t seal well. I bought a glass jug with a dispenser to replace the leaky plastic one, but kept the old valve. After a couple of months, the valve on the glass jar pooped out and started leaking. I dug out the old valve, pulled the leaky one from the glass jug, and put the old one on, doubling down on the rubber gaskets. Voila! Working valve with no leaks.
At present, the countries in Africa that are sufficiently at peace to make good venues for manufacturing also have high enough standards of living that you won’t get the pennies-per-hour workers. Most companies are adverse to starting up business someplace where the situation is volatile enough someone may decide to nationalize your factory or your workers with short warning, unless the profit will outweigh the risks. PBS had an interesting documentary about a rubber plantation in Liberia run by Firestone back in the 90s; an opportunistic local warlord did just that.
CATS! (Way Off-Topic.)
This morning, after coming back “away from the keyboard,” I discovered a Very Bad Thing, computer-wise.
Thing1 or Thing2 had traipsed across my keyboard and — managed to Rename my iMac’s hard drive. To something very, very bad in computer-land: The backslash character. And that was *accepted* by the OS. And the computer then had “gone to sleep” and “forgotten” or otherwise made the Undo unavailable upon waking it and finding this Situation.
After a moment of “OMG, I can’t believe a modern Mac (or PC) would do that!” — I renamed it back to its old default name, “Macintosh HD”. (The Mac OS has always allowed some odd things that Windows and Linux do not, even though the Mac has Unix “underneath” its shell, for around 20 years now.)
But… The backslash is a very, very risky character in computer-land. In Windows, it’s a folder/directory separator. In Unix and Linux, and in C and C’s relatives, the backslash is an “escape character” that signals, well, all sorts of things. And therefore, all sorts of things could go wrong if it’s mishandled. (Which is also why I’m not entering it in this post as the symbol itself.) (I think it would be handled right, but…old-school, it might not.
Crisis apparently averted. — I have been fighting the “No! Get off the keyboard!” (Optional swear word or two.) battle for too long. The cats always ignore this and walk on the gods-be keyboard anyway.
Clearly, this can’t continue. I got off lucky this time. Really, really lucky.
I just spent way too long doing keyword searches on Amazon. You can get silicone skins to go over the keyboard and let you type. No, I need to stop felines from typing. You can get sliding drawers or shelves to fit your keyboard under your desk or computer. No, not with an iMac (big dang screen, sir) and not when the desk has a drawer already, quite occupied by pens, etc. and compartments, so it couln’t fit a keyboard in or under it. Also, it would bang my knees or other parts of me that…I really don’t want hit like that. Really! No other such items.
And mostly, all I found were silicone skins and soft cases/covers for short (non-extended) keyboards or for laptops and tablets. A few drawer/shelf gizmos. … A weird, ratcheted laptop riser like a lap desk crossed with a transforming giant robot mecha… which might be handy for a laptop, by the way, but looked all kinds of unstable if not on a solid surface.
Phooey. I am going very old-school, very low-tech, very cheap, and I am going to use a BOX if I can find one long enough around the house. (This is all too likely, given the number of boxes still present.) … Longer term, even I should be able to cobble together a wooden box out of a few boards and pick up some small nails. Or possibly find the right size, ready-made.
But — No, the keybarod and graphics tablet shall no longer remain undefended, vulnerable to feline pedestrain assaults while the hew-mon is away from his desk. — Now if I could only stop them from doing it while I’m gods-rotted right here at the keyboard. Sigh.
Ahem. Both felines are equally likely culprits.
One is really glad the computer was not rendered apoplectic by the renaming to the ultra-sensitive backslash.
One is doubly surprised the OS would *accept* such a potentially disastrous, ill-fortuned name, and a shingle character.
Now to measure the keyboard and get a box. Ye gods and little fishes!
CATS! EEgad.
How about storing the keyboard vertically, either next to the desk or on top of it, so it can’t be walked across?
There are two problems with that idea; otherwise, it would work fine.
Stood vertically, either side facing in/out, it would still be prone to keypresses from any pressure on it. Suppose a cat brushes up against it, passing by on the desk? Or the weight of the keyboard itself might activate a key (held down on repeat?) if the keys face inward.
The darn keyboard is so lightweight, it would be prone to fall down. Light is good for most things, but hey, some things ought to be sturdy.
— However, based on a later key response, I think it might not be the cat’s fault after all. Likely is, but maybe not.
It may be time for a new keyboard altogether. The thing gave a weird unexpected response for no apparent reason, while at most, all I’d done was nudge it.
I’m ordering a new keyboard.
So…this might be on topic after all….
However, the OS still did take that backslash and rename the drive, which…aaiiee!
Cat’s input error or hardware error, either way, a box is a good idea.
My first response was the kitteh was as innocent as they try hard to appear. “Who? Me?” It would take an extremely unlikely sequence of specific keypresses to rename a hard drive. Try going down that path yourself! Not likely.
Back in the day some keybards came with hard, hinged, clear plastic covers. Or maybe those were after-market things.
Google found this page: http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/904741-where-can-i-find-hard.html
Where one suggestion is a piece of plexiglass (masonite or thin plywood would also work) with standoffs to hold it off the keyboard. Other people also have problems with kitties on the keys….
Why not go to the local charity shop and buy a tea tray or bed tray for a couple of dollars?
Good idea, Tommie. It would depend on the size of the tray, but that could work. Will investigate.
Alas, on the Mac desktop, it is too easy to rename a drive or folder.
Press Tab a time or two to tab between objects on the desktop (drives, generally), or folders or aliases. This is a convenience and accessibility feature. (But not so good if the hew-mon or the cat presses it by accident.)
(Also not so good if your keyboard’s going bad.)
Once tabbed onto a drive or folder or printer or other such object, a click or tap or a press on Space or Enter/Return (either of those) will select the name in order to rename it.
It will accept any legal characters for a (Macintosh) file name. — And I’d thought a backslash was non-valid. It will accept a single character as a name. Press Enter or Return again and you’ve just renamed your device or folder or alias.
While still there on the Desktop, you have the option to Undo an accidental rename. — But something, whether the computer going to sleep, or somehow tabbing or moving to another window or application or object — Something did away with the Undo-ability of that rename. For a minute, I thought my computer was seriously hosed. But no, a rename back to its original name did the trick.
Still very odd, though.
I have ordered a new keyboard. Seeing enough oddities that I don’t think it’s just a matter of cleaning or a contact that’s been jiggled. (Tried that already.) …. Ah, and now with input from the other cat, walking across the post reply box! (Meow, mumble, what are you looking at me for? I’m just walking by. You step on that thing all the time with your front paws, so why fuss at me?)
I gave up on the wireless keyboard months (years?) back. This particular keyboard is older than I’d thought, apparently bought in 2012. So I’m about due to replace it anyway. Heh.
Plywood or plexiglass and some risers — That should be easy. — About 18W x 6L x 1.5 to 2.0 D, with up to 1/4 inch diameter feet/risers should do it. I’ll have a stop by Lowe’s or Home Depot this week or next for that. Furniture rests, dowels, golf tees, screws, something, should work for the risers.
Back in the old days, System 7 and earlier, before the Mac OS went to a Unix underpinning, the “:” (colon) was the folder/directory separator. (Strange.) Several special symbols were not allowed in filenames, and that was, I had thought, extended to nearly all of the ASCII special symbols once they went to Unix underneath. … Guess not, though.
… One surely hopes the starship’s bridge consoles (all consoles!) are kitty-proof and child-proof. — Really would not want an accidental rename or a course change or fire phasers and photon torpedoes happening, just because Junior or Fluffy got to a control console. Oh, no, that would not be good. Hard to explain to the Captain or to the Commodore of the Fleet. Harder to explain to whomever is in that other ship over there. Or planet or…yeah.
Also, the peanut butter and jelly, or the tuna piaté, can’t be good for the keyboard, eh?
Or was from Midshipman McGuilicuddy again?
Ho, the naughty kitteh-spawn! Junior mostly stays on the floor, but Zorro has claimed the desktops and arm rests in the computer room. Periodically she tries to rename the printer server computer, and occasionally misjudges the leap to the hew-mon’s arm rest when the hew-mon is using said arm rest — YEOWTCH! We had to cover the phone with a box when we aren’t there, after Zorro robo-dialed DH’s dad.
We kludged together an anti-howling device that seems to be working. Since we couldn’t turn off the Midnight Howl, we are banishing it from areas where hew-mons will be subjected to it at oh-dark-thirty. I found a sturdy pressboard sheet and wedged it at the end of the hallway leading to, among other things, the bedrooms. Litterboxes et. al. are moved to the front room, as are kitties from bedtime until coffee-time in the morning. If Junior yowls, we can’t hear it from the back.
Oh, my.
‘Kitten on the Keys” has come to have a whole new meaning in the computer age.
Anybody catching any aurorae? I’ll step out after dark, as I have, hopefully, many times over the past couple decades.
For all your kitteh-rental needs:
http://mashable.com/2015/06/10/kitten-library-new-mexico/
Hey, that little furball is bilingual! And hangs out with the dictionary. — Kitten library checkout: great idea!
A very interesting article about American corporate philosophy in general, and the computer industry in particular.
I, Cringely blog
At my job, we have a sign that says [district manager]’s top five priorities. The top one is customer service. I have longed to replace it with a more accurate one. That would start with DM gets a quarterly bonus.
This person has never worked in our area, and could not do any of the jobs that we at the basic level do. The DM does not speak to customers, and barely speaks to workers below store manager level.
I have sincere doubts that any of the personnel at corporate level could do my job. I do not even believe that any of them have a working familiarity with the products we sell. I would like to see them all work for two weeks at the basic level so that they know what they are asking of us.
Obviously, they were not reared by parents like mine. My parents taught me that if you couldn’t do it, you had to learn, not just tell someone else to do it. They also taught me that although Rank Hath Its Privileges, none of them includes disobeying the rules you make for others.
My goodness, or lack thereof! What a screed!
CJ: Extreme heat predicted over the next week. You might want to stock up today on whatever you need to cope. (Also, I read an article: MS flubbed an update which turned off updates.)
* * *
GW: The computer industry is huge and multifaceted. When they just say “I.T.”, I’m not really sure what they’re thinking of, whether one part, certain parts, or everything. Intel is continuing to execute to the same plan they have for decades, Moore’s Law; my only criticism is that they are failing to make sure anything needs that much power, so replacement cycles and sales slow.
But I think complacency is part of human nature. Look at cable companies clinging to their traditional business model while change is about to destroy them. Even Kodak, who foresaw the transition to digital cameras, failed to make the transition. No one that I know projected the vast switch from PC development to smartphone app development.
But I definitely agree corporate officers are compensated in a bad way. Sure, give them 100x average wage, but beyond that only give them stock in trust that they cannot sell. That will induce some long term thinking. If you’re playing chess looking one move ahead while your opponent is looking five moves ahead, you’ll lose; this is exactly how Japan and MITI took over electronics, autos, small appliances, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera….
Cringely is not talking about the personal computer market, or processor design, but mainly the corporate IT services market. He recently published a book, The Decline and Fall of IBM.
I cannot comment on IBM specifically; I can’t think of any of their projects. But I agree.
The lemming effect: people follow the crowd because they don’t really know what they’re doing. Unfortunately, bidding the lowest credible bid then overruning has been part of the industry since the ’60s(?)–maybe the 1860s considering Babbage’s engines. What’s the line from Chanur? Repairs run late and over budget throughout the Universe? How many state ACA exchanges failed? Then there’s the appalling software of the F-35.
(I was very fortunate to go to a school at a time where software engineering was emphasized: I was taught to consider maintenance costs even though I knew I would never be the maintainer. I also had some brilliant people at my first job who taught me to schedule accurately and test designs before coding them, much less code without designing.)
Throw more bodies at it: The Mythical Man Month; throwing more man hours at it is as bad since a tired programmer writes bugs in minutes that take weeks to step on. It’s, I think, the continuation of the Industrial Revolution model of workers being cogs in a machine; it just doesn’t apply to software. If you hire code monkeys, you’re going to have a long wait for them to come up with Shakespeare or even Mother Goose. As you probably know, a good programmer is worth ten average programmers and a bad programmer is worth at least minus ten average programmers.
(The psychological adaptations of people working with an essentially perfect machine that always finds fault…. If a programmer looks honestly at his mistakes, he can improve or at least know where he’s likely to make mistakes. Way too many programmers somehow delude themselves into thinking they never make any mistakes; they’re totally in denial, crocodile lunch. How someone deludes themselves despite constant, irrefutable proof to the contrary…why aren’t they in politics? And more programmers than is really credible think they’re the smartest kid in the class; maybe if they’re smarter than the people–or think so–they think they must be smarter than the computer. Well, bless the guys I worked with from MIT and CalTech and Rutgers; kept me on my toes, they did.)
Paying people poorly: the good 10x programmers are going to leave since they can always get better jobs. The average programmers are also going to leave at a slower pace. So you get left with the bug coders.
@Walt
“I cannot comment on IBM specifically; I can’t think of any of their projects. But I agree.” Surely you know about “Watson”! IBM’s going into that technology big-time!
re: F35. The F16 that flipped upside down the first time it crossed the Equator. Or the one that obliged when the “gear up” was toggled, while it was sitting in a hangar.
The Mythical Man Month by Brooks was specifically about IBM’s OS/360 Project.
I can tell you how software system projects were run in a significant aero-space company, very much different in practice than as you’re suggesting but with much the same result. But this isn’t the place.