Chuck Ryan writes:

>The PC was designed to be cost effective and so its components are not as
>rugged as those found in that HP3000 you paid 100 times as much for.

The HP2648 cost about $9,000 in 2001 dollars. The PCs cost about $2,200
in 2001 dollars. The 14-year-old HP3000 cost $30,000 in 2001 dollars, and
serves the needs of several people. The ratio is more like 10:1, not
100:1, and becomes even less favorable to the PC when you calculate a
per-user cost.

><Also,
>how many of those HP3000 components have been replaced over the years?)

One, at a cost of $300.

Wirt Atmar responds:

>Chuck's point is well taken. One of the most important things to consider in
>the design of any piece of equipment is the environment into which it is to
>be placed. In the case of PC's, it's one of extremely rapid evolution, and
>there's simply no reason to overbuild these devices.

In other words, there's no point in building PCs that last a long time
because we don't intend for them to last a long time. That's what
"extremely rapid evolution" means.

One estimate I read recently says that in five years, there'll be a half
a billion PCs in landfills. This is a good use of resources?

>Moreover every part of
>the B-17 was designed to be as simple and as easily replaced as it possibly
>could be so that damaged aircraft could be canabalized and their parts reused
>on other airframes.

But this isn't the way PCs are built. I saved all the power cords and a
couple of working floppy and CD-ROM drives (not all) from the computers
I'm taking to the recyclers. I guess that's pretty close to "every part".
Anyone need some power cords? When the archaeologists excavate the ruins
of the United States in another 5,000 years, they'll have to dig down
through a couple of meters of power cords before they even *find* the
middens. Maybe we should build them so they're biodegradable.

-- Bruce



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