But WE already knew this...

[Harbourmaster]

Gadgets Built to Fail

http://www.wired.com/news/wiredmag/0,722...=rss.index


Of course some of the quotes are pure crap since it is well known that EVERY product has a designed in "lifecycle" based on component durability.

[OWC Jamie]

What's the 'designed in' life cycle of a peice of Stainless Steel 4x4x1/8 standing in a dry closet ?

If EVERY product had a designed in lifecycle there's a certain laboratory in Michigan that would be out of business.
That's all they do, destroy.
We send them stuff just to find out what its durability is.
EVERY is absurd.

[Seacrest]

Meh.

I agree that manufacturers are constantly trying to lower costs by using cheaper and possibly less durable materials, however, most of the electronics I have owned over the last 25 years or so have lasted a long time.

This is in stark contrast to how the 'slightly obsolete' stuff I hand down to my sister always seems to break after few months in her hands.

[Harbourmaster]

[quote billb]What's the 'designed in' life cycle of a peice of Stainless Steel 4x4x1/8 standing in a dry closet ?

If EVERY product had a designed in lifecycle there's a certain laboratory in Michigan that would be out of business.
That's all they do, destroy.
We send them stuff just to find out what its durability is.
EVERY is absurd.
What do you call that 4x4x1/8 stainless billb?

I would call it raw stock, not a "product" in the context of my statement.

[BigGuynRusty]

[quote Seacrest]This is in stark contrast to how the 'slightly obsolete' stuff I hand down to my sister always seems to break after few months in her hands.
I see we have the same relatives!

BGnR

[trisho.]

[quote BigGuynRusty][quote Seacrest]This is in stark contrast to how the 'slightly obsolete' stuff I hand down to my sister always seems to break after few months in her hands.
I see we have the same relatives!

BGnR
Tell me about it. I think I anything I send my brother explodes once he takes into the house. Don't ask me how...

[Chupa Chupa]

Thanks to eBay, I never keep my gadgets around long enough to find out. New models comes out, old model goes on. You'd be amazed at the top dollar some eBayers pay for gadgets that were discontinued days before.

[edgarbc1]

[quote Harbourmaster][quote billb]What's the 'designed in' life cycle of a peice of Stainless Steel 4x4x1/8 standing in a dry closet ?

If EVERY product had a designed in lifecycle there's a certain laboratory in Michigan that would be out of business.
That's all they do, destroy.
We send them stuff just to find out what its durability is.
EVERY is absurd.
What do you call that 4x4x1/8 stainless billb?

I would call it raw stock, not a "product" in the context of my statement.

maybe it has a hole in it.... value added engineering !!!

[BigGuynRusty]

[quote trisho.]Tell me about it. I think I anything I send my brother explodes once he takes into the house. Don't ask me how...
I know how!
I watched my eldest sister run over her cordless phone.
Watched my Nephews new Moto Razr slide across the concrete garage floor after he got bored and started doing that stupid "fingertip spinning" thing.
I have seen my middle sister snap inside car door handles off, break her 1976 Camaro 4-Speed shifter handle off, throw her cordless phone through a 10'X8' plate glass window as she "tossed" the phone to my youngest sister, was a passenger while she drove her husbands mint condition 1969 ZL-1 Camaro off a 16" curb, wiping out the oil pan, front suspension, and all four rims. She was doing about 20 MPH, I was screaming for her to stop, and pointing at the curb, she was too busy looking at me and yapping.

BGnR

[Panopticon]

Hopefully, none of those 'gifted relatives' get anywhere near a Wii controller!!