Tech Life

Rands in Response

Floid writes: “CRTs will be truly obsolete in 5 years. Hallelujah.”

I’ve got recent strong evidence to back this up. I recently replaced my clunky 17″ Apple CRT monitor with a 17″ flat panel screen. This was my first experience with real time usage of a flat panel monitor and the experience has been exquisite.

Two remarkable things:

– Brightness. The colors are literally leaping off the screen.

– Form factor. Not only does the flat panel free up space on my desk, but the fact that it sits further back on my desk gives me the illusion that I’ve got more screen real estate.

Flat panels are an “Of course” technology. Of course, you’ll like it. Of course, you’ll never want to use anything else. Of course, CRTs are doomed.

Ryvar writes on the topic of Single Sign On: “Nobody is above abusing that degree of power, and fortunately humanity seemed to have the common sense to recognize this with Passport.”

Upon reading this, the Rands Geek Theory popped into my head, “In order for a technology to become mainstream, it must first pass through the geek legions.” What I mean is, for any technology, must the bleeding edge adopter saccept it for it even have a chance to exist elsewhere? I can think of no recent technology which has not first made the roughs through the hallways of dorkitude before it was ready for prime time. PCs, Internet, video games, BBS, the list is endless.

Other random thought: Is a restatement of the Rands Geek Theory also, “In order for a technology to become mainstream, it must first pass prove it’s worth via the porn industry”?

#

9 Responses

  1. Ryvar 22 years ago

    Not to be a contrarian, but I enjoy my CRT more than any of the many LCDs I’ve used. Why? Firstly because I’m a gamer, secondly because single pixel problems don’t occur with CRTs, and thirdly because of cost.

    I admit to not being aware of the technical terminology for it, but when a bright object moves quickly against a bright background in a game (which is a lot in Quake 3’s spacemaps, any space dogfighting game, etc.), the pixels that were recently 255,255,255 RGB can’t snap down to 0,0,0 quickly enough to avoid leaving a trail. Several of the latest screens have made great strides in conquering this problem, but they weren’t around 2 years ago when my 21″ G810 broke down.

    Which leads me to another point – I do a lot of 3D modeling. I like a huge, bright display and I have one. A 21″ dual-input flatscreen aperture grille beast from IBM that weighs 76lbs (the Stealth Black P260 if you want one yourself). I have seen a lot of amazing LCDs but nothing compares to my current screen. To touch on the third point – cost – I got this monitor for $480 through Ubid. Admittedly the retail from IBM is $1080, but you won’t find a 21″ LCD for less than $1700 on Pricewatch.

    For most purposes, I agree – LCDs are a no-brainer purchase, and the prices are becoming extremely reasonable. But there are quite a few people not ready to make that jump yet for a variety of reasons, and until economic factors / technological quibbles are disposed of, it might be slightly premature to trumpet the death of CRTs.

  2. grrk 22 years ago

    adultcheck is already the Porn Single Sign On. i’d trust them with my Turbo Tax

  3. Harry 22 years ago

    Sometimes gadgets and other geeky products never make it past those early adopters and geeks. This is either due to the fact that it’s pretty useless for the masses or it’s expensive.

  4. Glrrg 22 years ago

    Actually isn’t the Geek Filter just Diffusion Theory? With the innovators, the early adoptors, the early majority, majority, late majority and laggards? The early adoptor is what is key in Diffusion Theory because he provides a taste test and perspective that the innovator doesn’t have. They also refine the raw innovation into something that is palettable for the rest of everybody. Think Madonna although right now she seems to be slipping a bit. This is what MTV uses to screw the last shiny cents out of the kids at every turn.

  5. lowmagnet 22 years ago

    I like my LCD iMac. I wouldn’t go back. I even have the brightness at the lowest, and If I really want to wow people (because they always say it’s too dark — I use it in a pitch black room) I crank up the brightness. That usually shuts them up.

    If tech must pass the geek masses, then why is .NET out there and succeeding to a degree? I don’t think your average leenux user would much like it.

    Adultcheck is great because apparently they don’t yet understand that I only got a two year subscription 5 years ago.

  6. rands 22 years ago

    Another contradiction to the GEEK THEORY is Windows. This has never been embraced by the hardcore geek community. DOS was always viewed as a joke and it took Windows 10 years to get folks to talk about it without giggling.

    One might think that this is because Microsoft has used it’s monopoly to force Windows on the world. Or, one might give Microsoft being credit for being tenacious.

  7. Lowmagnet 22 years ago

    Yes, they are tenacious like D — Fuck them gently… with a chainsaw.

    I can understand them using market position to push an OS that is a rip-off of another OS.. They did win that lawsuit from Apple, anyway (in a manner of speaking.. apple didn’t stick it to em) so I guess they get off scott free.

    I have never met anyone who goes ga-ga over a Microsoft product, save for the wonderful and glorious Comic Chat that brings us a certain online strip.. Nobody liked windows 3.x, or Bob or putting up with plug and pray that doesn’t work.

    -lowmagnet, who’s not down with .net, but works for a company who is.

  8. rands 22 years ago

    I don’t recall Microsoft winning any lawsuit. I do recall Microsoft paying Apple $150 million to Apple to make their browser the default standard on Mac OS and to drop any patent infringement lawsuits.

    Granted, this was in Microsoft’s best interest as Apple, at the time, represented the only operating system which had a chance to compete with Windows. Also, $150 is pocket change (WebTV = $450 million).

    Ok, so maybe they did win.

  9. nfnnmidata 22 years ago

    FYI, LCD monitors actually DO have more screen real estate than CRTs of the same size, because the CRTs are not actually the same size – they measure about an inch that is unusable, behind the plastic or something. So a 17″ LCD is gonna seem closer to a 19″ CRT than a 17″.