Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Obsolete Technology - 40 Big Losers

There was a cool article at MSNBC.com today re 40 technologies that you sure don't want to be your company's core business. You can read it here. The writer is obviously younger than me. There's no mention of hula hoops, slide rules, or LP record albums. A few of the 40 items mentioned are worthy of note. . 11. Waiting to get photos developed. My company manufactured one of the main components of the "fixer solution" used in the photo-development process. Up until about 8 years ago. Then we looked at the shrinking market and the shrinking profits (too much supply; too little demand) and said, "It's time to exit the business." We've never regretted that decision. . 15. Checking your answering machine. Yeah, Liz and I still do this. There will come a time when we'll wise up and, like Jason, only have a cell phone number. But not yet. . 26.Putting in a videotape to watch a movie. This is strictly a Liz thing. We have a 3-shelf bookcase that's full of VHS tapes. 95% of which are chick-flicks. We never watch them. Who knows when we'll finally get rid of these? Probably about the time DVD's become obsolete. . 29. Using proper grammar and punctuation. I'm proud to say I do send text messages via my cell phone. Actually, it's about the only thing I use my cell phone for. & ys, i abbrv lik crzy. Probably more than a teenager does. . 33. Playing music on an audiocassette. Only Liz still does this. We listened to a Patty Smyth (who?) cassette while driving to lunch on Sunday. And I marveled that there was a time when we actually put up with a couple minutes of silence at the end of one side of the cassette, and didn't mind having to flip the thing over to play Side 2. . 40. Giving someone your undivided attention... I rarely carry my cell phone with me, except when I'm at work. So it is usually quite some time before I return a text message. But I have noticed with Jason's generation, that getting, and responding to, text messages every two minutes while eating, chatting, or otherwise socializing is not considered rude at all.

4 comments:

Heather said...

Nice. Love the camera FAIL pic, btw. That's classic. ;)

terry said...

and how many of the 40 dying technologies are still alive and well in the Gurney household?

Heather said...

Hmm... We still have some old school light bulbs, so #31 fits us. And I keep the phone books around for when the internet is down, so #36 on a rare occasion. That looks to be it.

terry said...

we've tried those new-fangled low-ebergy light bulbs. they seem to have a high rate of early failures.