Reading stuff on FM synthesis and computers I realized something: make this new technology available for as many people as possible was the 80s and 90s motto and we lost that.
The goal following a trend set by the end of WWII was to be affordable. Technology was hype, but not in a hipster way it was just obvious that we should all use it and from the IBM PC to the Yamaha DX7 to the Roland 909, they all aimed at making things available for those who didn’t have the money, the space, the knowledge sometimes to get “the best of the best”.
Through affordability and people’s creativity, these machines conquered the world and became ubiquitous, changing our culture forever. I love that.
Today, technology is snob. Machines are sold at a higher price because brands all want some of that crazy Apple margin so they all sell computers around $1000 instead of $700. People expect $1000 as a starting price now, they want “the best”, despite not knowing anything about much better deals (all these expensive laptops with shitty HD4000, seriously). We don’t even pay for our expensive phones anymore or if we do, we pay half a thousand dollars to look at pictures while taking a shit. Think about that. A 500 bucks tablet for your three year old kid? Come on now.
It’s definitely a change compared to emergent technology from ten or twenty years ago. Technology literacy didn’t spread and manufacturers are using this at their advantage.
The computer industry is now focused on selling pseudo-primo stuff -Intel ultrabook bullshit- to people who don’t understand anything about computers but who are ready to shove whatever price in to impress their friends. It’s not anymore about doing things, it’s about showing off.
All of sudden affordable equals cheap, but I don’t think it does. Netbooks are now going down but the last ones running on AMD allow you to play Crysis. On $450 machines. Doing more with less, people call that Great Value or Yield and usually love it.
So OEMs either sell low-margin cheap products like netbooks and Android tablets to tractor beam customers and then sell high-margin expensive products like ultrabooks. There’s a sweet middle ground to go for but more importantly, it’s no more a free market with choices if one company (Intel) dictates how things work through an oligarchy of vassals.