[ale] Why do they keep putting VGA on Netbooks?!?!

[Ron Frazier]

Hi Greg,

Ooo Kaay.  My statement WAS a bit broad and you make some good points.  
I'll hopefully make a few good points, but I'm not sure my brain is in 
gear.  I may have to come back to this later.  This could evolve / 
devolve into an off topic socio political discussion.  I recently bought 
some soap for the bathroom.  There was a big gouge carved, by design, 
out of the back.  They could say that it helps you hold it, but I'm 
convinced that it's really the factory's method to cut the amount of 
product they are delivering so they can give you less for the same 
money, or even more money.  Rather than step up to the plate and tell 
the customer they must increase prices to deliver the same product, they 
cut production and try to slip it in under the radar.  I think this is 
disreputable.  I just bought a box of Cheerios.  It literally is only 
1.5" thick.  A few years ago, this box was 2 - 2.5" thick.  Buy a box of 
ice cream now.  You get 1/3 of a gallon.  You don't get 1/2 gallon any 
more.  Serve it up for 3 people, and the box is essentially gone.  The 
point.  While I wholeheartedly support capitalism, I don't support 
unlimited unregulated capitalism.  Human nature being what it is, and 
corporate boards of directors being what they are, the dominating force 
tends to become greed.  Steven Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective 
People suggests to Think Win Win and Synergize when dealing with other 
people.  However, this is rarely the case.  The corporation rarely 
thinks or strategizes how can we give the best possible products to the 
widest array of customers and maximize THEIR satisfaction, even possibly 
at the expense of corporate profits.  They usually think what's the 
least we can give to the customer, the fewest customer service agents, 
and the minimal options and choices we can give the customer without 
them SCREAMING too much and embarrassing the company.  How many people 
ENJOY shopping at Wal-Mart.  How many times have you seen 57 registers 
with 3 open, and 15 people in line at each of those 3?  What ever 
happened to Target's never more than 3 people in line policy?  Don't 
even think of returning something at Christmas.  Talk about under staffed!

To address the original point of the message, I don't really think we 
need BNC RGB connectors on our monitors right now.  However, I pretty 
much run both computers and cars until they die.  I have observed that 
corporations, in America in particular, will roll out products only when 
they believe they can make a substantial profit (I'm OK with that.), or 
even an obscene profit (I'm not OK with that.)  At some point, 
profiteering becomes abusive and morally wrong, whether it's legal or 
not.  I have also observed that the corporations will support only the 
mainstream most profitable section of the customer base.  Linux is is a 
prime example.  We're a niche market.  We struggle to get support from 
the manufacturers who don't want to hear anything about it.  Broadband 
is the same thing.  We (the USA) have one of the slowest aggregate 
broadband speeds in the world.  That's disgusting!  People in the rural 
areas sometimes don't have broadband at all.  Again, they are a less 
profitable niche market, not to be bothered with.

I have no doubt that when it's the most profitable for the corporations, 
and the most tolerable to the majority, they will remove the VGA ports 
from the monitors and projectors and KVM's, and leave all of us with 
older equipment in the lurch, having to spend $ 100 to connect every VGA 
device we own to our NEW fancy display devices.

By the way, I don't think those A-D chips need to be that expensive.  
Maybe $2 - $5 max.  The Dell Inspiron 1525 notebook computer I'm typing 
this on has VGA, SVIDEO, HDMI, Firewire, phone, LAN, and 4 USB ports on 
it, as well as WiFi and the option to add Bluetooth.  And, I'm glad it 
does.  It gives me lots of options and choices as to how to use it.  My 
son's machine does NOT have SVIDEO, HDMI, or Firewire, and only has 3 
USB ports.  I like his computer much less, although it works for him.  
His doesn't even have a hard drive light, and that drives me insane.  
Just because there's no hourglass on the screen, doesn't mean the 
computer is not busy.  Neither computer has Serial or Parallel ports, 
which is a bother if I want to hook up an old printer or a 
microcontroller or something.  Also, DVI ports usually take more real 
estate in the case of the computer, which is an issue for notebooks and 
tablets, etc.

That thing about landfills you brought up is interesting.  I hadn't 
thought of it.  That comment about it all being burnt up is interesting 
too.  Are you talking about the end of time?  I hope to use my equipment 
for a while before that.  By the way, God never said we wouldn't pollute 
the Earth to death and make it awful to live here before the end.  8-)

Sincerely,

Ron

On 02/03/2011 04:30 PM, Greg Clifton wrote:
> Ron, it really has nothing to do with screwing anybody. More nearly 
> the opposite, i.e. providing current technology without the costly 
> burden of the old obsolete so we the consumers get the new product for 
> less than the old. I have long repeated the mantra that in the 
> computer business, each iteration is "better, faster, cheaper." 
> Despite Intel's recent Bil $ blunder with the 6 series chips, this is 
> generally true and closely related to Moore's Law. As one who has been 
> in the computer hardware biz for >20 yrs. let me tell you the margins 
> are VERY thin in this business and for the manufacturers to be able to 
> sell their wares, they have got to make products that people want at 
> the lowest possible price points. Time was, high end CRT monitors had 
> BNC RGB inputs in addition to VGA inputs. Should they STILL be putting 
> those on LCD monitors???
>
> Now if you want to make an argument about resource utilization and 
> landfill space, toxic waste, etc. that are associated with 
> semiconductor and display production and how it might be a better use 
> of resources to provide all manner of connections on all display 
> devices so we would never have to throw one out, there is a case for 
> that. It may be a good idea in theory but, it isn't economically 
> feasible. Remember, it all gets burnt in the end anyway.
> GC
>
> On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 9:06 AM, Ron Frazier 
> <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>> 
> wrote:
>
>     Yup.  SOP - Standard Operating Procedure - Screw the customer
>     whenever you can.
>
>     Ron
>
>
>     On 02/03/2011 08:27 AM, Richard Bronosky wrote:
>>
>>     You better get ready for it. All modern displays are digital
>>     devices. Receiving VGA requires a A-D chipset which isn't cheap.
>>     They will stop including those as soon as they believe they can.
>>     It's going to hit like unlimited cellphone plans. Once one of
>>     them takes the plunge, the others will follow.
>>
>>>     On Feb 3, 2011 12:16 AM, "Ron Frazier"
>>>     <atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com
>>>     <mailto:atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     Hi David,
>>>
>>>     I do hope that the monitor / projector makers won't leave us
>>>     (collectively) out in the cold having to buy thousands of
>>>     "converters"
>>>     to attach our old equipment to new display devices. I haven't
>>>     bought any
>>>     monitors or projectors very recently though. I think my Sony
>>>     flat screen
>>>     has a VGA port on the back, as well as HDMI.
>>>
>>>     Sincerely,
>>>
>>>     Ron
>>>
>>>
>>>     On 01/31/2011 06:20 PM, David Tomaschik wrote:
>>>     > I can't say I've seen monitors/projectors without ...
>>>
>>>     -- 
>>>
>

-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier

770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com

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