Paid upgrades make no sense
Good column on how the technology industry spends too much time whining and blaming Saddam Hussein for all its troubles. The whole industry is based on an utterly ludicrous paradigm: That we should all be upgrading our computers and networks every two year or so to keep up with the latest and greatest technology. Never mind the fact that we can't even get last year's technology to work properly because the manufacturers were so rushed to get it out before the competition that it shipped with more bugs than a cheap motel.
Can you just imagine the manufacturer of, say, widget-making machines expecting a customer to "upgrade" his expensive machinery every year or two? It doesn't happen. But the technology industry thinks this is normal, and can't understand that people are tired of it and don't see the value-add of annual upgrades. Microsoft surely doesn't understand that, which is why it's alienating their customer base with its extortionate new licensing programs.
Nicole Chardenet
Rocky Hill, Conn.