How many times do you buy a product expecting it to do one single function; and it doesn’t? Maybe you bought a new computer expecting to only write letters. Perhaps your new phone does so much more than make phone calls it’s frustrating. We’ve all been there: technological ambiguities that make the user want to cry.
Why do they do it? Why do companies have to make products that have so many features packed into them? VCR’s are no longer available at every store. Instead, DVR’s have taken their place. And one of the major brands is Google. It seems like just last week Google made a search engine and now they’re making televisions.
A customer asked me last week: “What doesn’t Google make?” The first thing to come to my mind was a “toaster.” Companies like Google are so big and have so many facets that I wonder if they know what they’re doing. Search engines, operating systems, phones, and DVR’s are some of Google’s endeavors.
Companies like Google feel it’s best to jam pack many features into the equipment they design. Google makes a digital video recorder which includes a TV tuner and internet browser all in one box. It’s the does-it-all widget. My phone not only makes phone calls, but it plays games, organizes my contacts, connects to the internet, and so much more.
I don’t think you can purchase a piece of electronic equipment that only does what it’s advertised. Why? There has to be a valid reason why electronic items are becoming the dumping ground for newer and newer additions. Are these innovations or just ambiguities.
As digital processors and chips become more advanced, so do the applications developed around them. All of the items I’ve described are little computers. They’re not necessarily packaged with a keyboard, mouse, monitor and Windows; but; they are actually little computers developed around a certain function.
VCR’s, for example, used to be made of circuit boards containing chips specifically for recording video. Computers at that point were not-so-fancy boxes that processed information based on text based inputs. Cellular phones were big bricks that simply dialed numbers and made calls.
The ambiguity comes from engineers redesigning equipment to function as other products. Rather than make a new VCR chip, manufacturers found that computer chips could handle all the functions of the VCR plus a whole lot more.
Modern devices are pretty much a computer that has been repackaged to handle a specific application. Computers are capable of handling many applications simultaneously. Like my phone, many have learned their phones are possible of making phone calls, surfing the web, and giving them directions. Computer processors offer almost endless possibilities when it comes to packing features into new devices.
From a business perspective it’s probably a lot less expensive to invest in one microprocessor that does everything. It may be easier to renovate an old processor and turn it into a new one – adding a bit or byte here and there. The processor used in our phones is pretty close to those used in micro computers. It makes more sense for manufacturers to add functionality to an already successful product.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see one item that does everything. I can’t imagine it will be long until products are marketed that do everything from making calls to recording TV. This is all due to research and development teams who think it’s better for consumers to get frustrated than to have specialized products for individual purposes.
(Jeromy Patriquin is the President of Laptop & Computer Repair, Inc. located at 509 Main St. in Gardner. You can text him at (978) 413-2840 or call him directly at (978) 919-8059.)