Sure, we all claim to love technology. But there's just as much to loathe about the world of tech and techies - whether it's internal users suffering from PEBKAC, IT workers lost in their own acronym-filled worlds, Apple devotees, or early-adopter consumers who love themselves a little too much.
By Thomas Wailgum
CIO
Mobile Devices’ Exorbitant TCO
How about the insanely high cost of owning a smartphone?
And we’re not talking just about the devices themselves—there are the wireless service contracts, monthly taxes, roaming
charges, surcharges and other
fees on many of these carrier- and network-“exclusive” devices. One industry estimate: $3,800 for two years of service. “For a
lot of folks,” notes a CIO.com article, “the monthly smartphone
bill can be as big as, say, a car payment.”
Terribly Trendy Tech Lines
Depression-era food lines? That’s understandable. Waiting in terribly long lines—in the rain or in blazing hot
sun—for the release of the newest iPhone? Hmmm. Obsess much?
Mass Insecurity on the Web
Two decades of security research and it often still feels
you’re just one unfortunate click away from infecting your computer
with some virus, having your identity stolen by Eastern
European hackers, or spreading malware to hundreds of
millions of others on Facebook. Using public Wi-Fi at a restaurant today? It feels like a sailor going into a South Pacific port-of-call
and not bringing any “protection.”
You can bake a cake, pick up your dry cleaning or take the dog for a walk in the time it takes to start or restart a Windows
PC. It’s all thanks to the funky gunk your PC seems to accumulate daily, slowing processing speeds similar to those of the geriatric set on Florida interstates. (You could, of course, just wipe
your hard drive every six months or so. Or: Buy a Mac.)
Digital Rights Management
Wait…what “rights” do users actually get with DRM
technologies? Yeah, not so much.
Annoying Early Adopters
Don’t you just hate those early adopters who love nothing
better than to brag to anyone who will listen about how they’re early adopters. Whether it’s the Kindle or the Tandy TRS-80 from
Radio Shack back in the late 1970s—it was just as annoying back then as it is now.
Consumer Excess
No doubt, the United States is a nation of excess—with food, with cars, with technology. How many iPods do you own and actually need? (Like this
person’s collection, at left.) How much storage do you really need at work for your e-mail? Me, me, me.
Sucky Standardization
Whether it’s your collection of dusty remote controls, ERP apps
that don’t talk to each other, or the fact that there’s no universal charger that can work with your notebook, phone and mp3
player…ah, heck, the list goes on and on. Gadgets should play better together by now.
Sometimes, the best messages are the most simple (even if they’re misspelled).