Minority Report
Sep. 6th, 2006 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thessalianSooooooo... Blair's been talking about stepping down for how long and now people are finally putting their money where their mouths are. And of course, Blair et al are slandering these seven people for doing this in such a public way, but frankly, I raise a small, migraine-ridden cheer at this lot. After all, if they hadn't signed "a round robin letter that was then leaked to the press", the spin put on the departure of these ministers would have made their sacrifice pointless. They really believe that Tony has to go, and they have made a serious statement to that effect. Good for them.
And in other news, not that I actually wanted one, but Sony are delaying European release of the PS3. Despite all that noise about, "Oh, we're sorry that our Draconian copyright protection needs total revision because we're paranoid, money-grubbing arseholes! But cheer up! The delay means that we won't have to stagger the release dates between Japan, US and Europe this time!" Lying sonsabitches. Well, at least as far as Europe goes, they really are digging their own graves. March is not a good time to launch anything, particularly not with the Xbox 360 now being nearly a year old and probably due for a price mark-down, and the next-gen Nintendo console due for release this autumn. Happy holidays, Sony.
Besides which, it looks like they're prepping for the same trick Microsoft pulled with the 360. "We've been perfecting this Blu-Ray tech," they say. They've been perfecting this shit for a year. And yet somehow, they're having problems manufacturing it so they're not going to be able to ship as many as promised. I wish someone would tell me what economic value there is in not producing enough supply to meet demand. I suppose it's something about how you always want the thing that you can't get, so you're going to be jealous of those people you know that actually got one. Whereas in my experience, people look at the queues, the pre-orders that don't ship, the screaming honking disappointment (either their own or their kids') and say, "Fuck this; I'll wait until they have their heads on straight and it marks down in price". So welcome to tanking, PS3.
Yes, there will always be geeks who want the next gen technology RightTheHellNow, but how often has it been proven in life that geeks of that variety simply do not have the market pull they think they do? Yes, they spend money. They do not spend as much money as they used to, because they do not have the money that they used to. In the 90s, a tech job (which is what a lot of geeks go for) had a certain cachet - you kept shit running and you got paid a fuckload of money for doing it. Then in the late 90s, everyone and his dog decided to get in on the tech job cash cow, and good, well-paying tech jobs suddenly became hard to find in the new millennium because companies cottoned on to the fact that they could get a nice green graduate and pay him/her a pittance due to the sucky job market instead of paying a professional over the odds. Between![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
nadriel's recent plight and cholten99's difficulties in finding a good tech job a few years back, I've seen how hard it is to get the kind of job that can justify the kind of expenditure needed to get the newest-gen console right away. For everyone else - the people who are qualified in tech or in other things but are stuck in dead-end admin jobs because there is simply nothing else - it's damn near impossible. I'd personally rather spend that kind of money on a holiday or lots and lots of upgrades for the Frankenbox, personally. It's better value for money.
Of course, the non-geek contingent of the world doesn't have that much more money than the geek contingent do, for the most part. There's simply more of them. Which I suppose explains why Camden's turning into a shopping mall, Carnaby Street is now Oxford Street West, the Fox is turning into apartment blocks and the Charing Cross Road is slowly becoming trendified beyond all sense. Well, that and the NIMBY thing. Who wants freaky-lookin' Goth types wandering around? They can take the Hot Topic trendified versions, but ... seriously; Goth Sanrio. Who wants a red-light district, no matter how much a part of a city's culture it is? Who wants a Chinatown that's actually a true reflection of the Chinese community in the city's heart? Don't we all just want a nice vanilla city where everything follows the monoculture?
Well, actually, fuck no, but obviously I am in the minority here.
And my head still hurts, but at least a good rant always makes me feel better.
And in other news, not that I actually wanted one, but Sony are delaying European release of the PS3. Despite all that noise about, "Oh, we're sorry that our Draconian copyright protection needs total revision because we're paranoid, money-grubbing arseholes! But cheer up! The delay means that we won't have to stagger the release dates between Japan, US and Europe this time!" Lying sonsabitches. Well, at least as far as Europe goes, they really are digging their own graves. March is not a good time to launch anything, particularly not with the Xbox 360 now being nearly a year old and probably due for a price mark-down, and the next-gen Nintendo console due for release this autumn. Happy holidays, Sony.
Besides which, it looks like they're prepping for the same trick Microsoft pulled with the 360. "We've been perfecting this Blu-Ray tech," they say. They've been perfecting this shit for a year. And yet somehow, they're having problems manufacturing it so they're not going to be able to ship as many as promised. I wish someone would tell me what economic value there is in not producing enough supply to meet demand. I suppose it's something about how you always want the thing that you can't get, so you're going to be jealous of those people you know that actually got one. Whereas in my experience, people look at the queues, the pre-orders that don't ship, the screaming honking disappointment (either their own or their kids') and say, "Fuck this; I'll wait until they have their heads on straight and it marks down in price". So welcome to tanking, PS3.
Yes, there will always be geeks who want the next gen technology RightTheHellNow, but how often has it been proven in life that geeks of that variety simply do not have the market pull they think they do? Yes, they spend money. They do not spend as much money as they used to, because they do not have the money that they used to. In the 90s, a tech job (which is what a lot of geeks go for) had a certain cachet - you kept shit running and you got paid a fuckload of money for doing it. Then in the late 90s, everyone and his dog decided to get in on the tech job cash cow, and good, well-paying tech jobs suddenly became hard to find in the new millennium because companies cottoned on to the fact that they could get a nice green graduate and pay him/her a pittance due to the sucky job market instead of paying a professional over the odds. Between
nadriel's recent plight and cholten99's difficulties in finding a good tech job a few years back, I've seen how hard it is to get the kind of job that can justify the kind of expenditure needed to get the newest-gen console right away. For everyone else - the people who are qualified in tech or in other things but are stuck in dead-end admin jobs because there is simply nothing else - it's damn near impossible. I'd personally rather spend that kind of money on a holiday or lots and lots of upgrades for the Frankenbox, personally. It's better value for money.Of course, the non-geek contingent of the world doesn't have that much more money than the geek contingent do, for the most part. There's simply more of them. Which I suppose explains why Camden's turning into a shopping mall, Carnaby Street is now Oxford Street West, the Fox is turning into apartment blocks and the Charing Cross Road is slowly becoming trendified beyond all sense. Well, that and the NIMBY thing. Who wants freaky-lookin' Goth types wandering around? They can take the Hot Topic trendified versions, but ... seriously; Goth Sanrio. Who wants a red-light district, no matter how much a part of a city's culture it is? Who wants a Chinatown that's actually a true reflection of the Chinese community in the city's heart? Don't we all just want a nice vanilla city where everything follows the monoculture?
Well, actually, fuck no, but obviously I am in the minority here.
And my head still hurts, but at least a good rant always makes me feel better.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-09-06 06:21 pm (UTC)While Sony seems to be willfully killing themselves, Nintendo's making a comeback by preparing to release an inexpensive console that does less but runs the original Mario Brothers as well as the next Legend of Zelda game they decide to make.
As for tech jobs, I have a tech job, and a number of admins I know make more than I do. Apparently paperwork is the new computing. For god's sake, considering the crap you put up with, you should be making twice the salary you do now.