I believe the problem is with the magazine industry. They are having a tough time adapting to the competition from the internet. It is not surprising to find them clinging to the past. There is no shortage of us old guys embracing new technology as fast as we can. There are a lot of young technicians that have not learned that today's GeeWhiz technology is tomorrows recycles. I still dutifully replace the old Jameco & Digikey catalogs with the new ones they mail me but I cannot remember the last time I ordered anything except online. I look at Linux from time to time and even give it a try. I always back away because I really don't want to get in bed with the operating system, I just want to use it. So far, I have not encountered anything that does not require a great deal of effort to get "almost" running! Actually, I am almost afraid of making a phone call order for anything any more because I may not be able to talk to someone who can communicate with me in my native language (the American dialect of English spoken in the South East USA). There are people who try to shun technology but I don't think they are limited to any particular demographic group. There are times when it don't pay to be the first with things, just ask anyone who tried Window ME... John Ferrell http://DixieNC.US ----- Original Message ----- From: "digitaladdictions" To: Sent: Friday, September 02, 2005 1:51 PM Subject: [EE] Technology Adoption Lag > Is it just me or does it seem the electronics/hardware community > really is behind the times when it comes to modern computer > technology. Perhaps I am a bit biased as I have always been more a > computer hacker than hardware hacker and probably more on the bleeding > edge than normal but it seems that hardware people are behind the norm > from even a non technical person standpoint. > > A couple recent observations have resulted in this opinion. First > it seems that a vast majority of the hobbyist resources and projects > online still are written for windows 9x. Admittedly I am a BSD/Linux > whore in many ways and would never use 9x even if it were new but I > have no problem with win2k or XP or win2k3 server, while a bit > bloated, they are for the most part powerful stable operating systems. > I would never want to discourage someone from learning because they > don't have the money to buy modern equipment but it just seems like it > is the overall trend still, and Linux is always free and can run on > some of the oldest legacy equipment there is. > > When I was at Barnes and Nobel yesterday I was looking at the > magazine rack and found an article in an electronics magazine (either > Servo or Nuts & Volts, for the life of me I cant remember) where the > gist of it was that the Internet is not worth while for electronic > suppliers. They said users find it much easier to just call them up > for inventory and price quotes. Now I understand some older engineers > who never used computers in the first place and are stuck in there > ways would agree and that there are parts of the world were Internet > access can be problematic. I am not suggesting they refuse phone > orders BUT I cant imagine 90% of people would agree its easier to call > than to do a quick search on the distributors web page. I place most > of my electronic orders through digikey and find there site very easy > to navigate and find what I want. I guarantee you that says call for > a price quote I wont. I view it as inefficient and also don't want to > be tried to be sold anything. This article did keep me alert to this > attitude when I was browsing the web and I have noticed quite a few > electronic supplier sites just being a front to give an address and > phone number to call them often without even listing products. > > I really hope the attitude isn't that "I'm just a hobbyist and > cant do anything more complicated." As stated earlier my background is > more in the computer hacking/programming side of things were for the > most part the community is more bleeding edge than there corporate > counterpart and the attitude is that anything can be done with open > source projects rivaling million dollar company products every day. > > I don't mean to insult anyone here or tell anyone they shouldn't > continue doing what they enjoy doing or to stop learning. I am just > stating an observation and wondering if anyone else has noticed this > or agrees with me. Perhaps I am just looking in the wrong places and > there are great bleeding edge things going on else where. > > Justin > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist