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The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine"

post #1 of 11
8/24/09 at 8:14pm
Thread Starter 
The Good Enough Revolution: When Cheap and Simple Is Just Fine

Got my latest issue of Wired Magazine, thought this was a good article to share, especially here, with lossy proliferation and such...I've been slowly trying to revamp my music collection on the way..
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post #2 of 11
8/24/09 at 8:33pm
Thought it was a good article as well. I think it's important to get one's head around the constant revalueing of everything as technology marches on, but still, this "value" of cheapening and disposable culture has to form reactions as time goes on.
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post #3 of 11
8/24/09 at 10:02pm
Good article, though somewhat questionable examples. It's really hard to call the Kindle a 'good enough' low end device, and the Predator doesn't share the same marketspace as the F-16 unless you expand the marketspace to 'things that fly and shoot missiles'.

I wouldn't call it a revolution either. Cheap and dirty has continually been overthrowing technically superior products for a long time. They just didn't have business writers talking about Pareto principles and disruptive technologies to bring the hype back then.
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post #4 of 11
8/24/09 at 10:53pm
Interesting article. I gave the kids a Flip a couple Christmases ago and they love it. It's OK, but that other 20% is important to many. I love using a Nikon DSLR - it has a learning curve, but it takes great photos.

Another angle I'm not comfortable with is the wastefulness of "good enough." Rhe article touts the benefits of cheap products. OK, well what do you do with them afterwards? Do they just go to yet another landfill? What about the energy expended bringing physical products to market? This also plays to the hand of planned obsolescence, another business philosophy I dislike.

Personally, I'd rather have fewer possessions of higher quality. More importantly, they should all be serviceable and should be designed to last for many years. Though the upfront cost is higher, it will offset that with fewer replacements and more efficiency than having to transport and dispose of cheap junk.
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post #5 of 11
8/24/09 at 11:20pm
Our society no longer supports long lived products. For example has any of you tried to find a place that will sharpen your scissors or kitchen knives. I remember taking the generator of my cars and taking it to a shop to either put new brushes and or rewind it. It is very hard to find shops that do that kind of work nowadays. And lets not even talk about replacing the mirror on a rear view mirror, it used to be you could take it to a mirror shop and they would cut a mirror to fit in the rear view mirror (outside ones), not many shops left that will do that kind of work.
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post #6 of 11
8/25/09 at 12:37am
Thread Starter 
Aghhh....I should have known I'd get responses from only Headphoneus Supremuses....

And I do agree that some of the examples were iffy, but I think the general concept is pretty accurate, that we've (not us $300-headphone headfi frequenters...well over $1000 in some cases), the general public has gone cheaper, faster, simpler. Especially in the last decade or so, where technology has galloped past everything....
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post #7 of 11
8/25/09 at 2:49am
Very interesting article, thanks for the link.

Personally, I've never been someone who can settle for Good Enough. I almost always save up until I can go for The Best, but recently I've begun to realize just how many people simply don't care. Then again, I am a Head-Fier, and Head-Fiers aren't known for their compromises
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post #8 of 11
8/25/09 at 4:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mrarroyo View Post
Our society no longer supports long lived products. For example has any of you tried to find a place that will sharpen your scissors or kitchen knives. I remember taking the generator of my cars and taking it to a shop to either put new brushes and or rewind it. It is very hard to find shops that do that kind of work nowadays. And lets not even talk about replacing the mirror on a rear view mirror, it used to be you could take it to a mirror shop and they would cut a mirror to fit in the rear view mirror (outside ones), not many shops left that will do that kind of work.
This is very true. My grandmother just replaced her stove; it was over 50 years old (it was checked periodically to make sure it continued to be safe to use), and it ran like a charm, and was so well insulated it was hardly ever more than warm to the touch. The new stove is expected to last 10 years tops, and only if the electronic oven control (all ovens seem to be electronic now. What was wrong with a simple dial?) doesn't fry itself. Oh, by the way, you should buy our extended warranty because that often happens just after the 1 year manufacturer's warranty expires. Ugh.
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post #9 of 11
8/25/09 at 5:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by DeusEx View Post
Aghhh....I should have known I'd get responses from only Headphoneus Supremuses....

And I do agree that some of the examples were iffy, but I think the general concept is pretty accurate, that we've (not us $300-headphone headfi frequenters...well over $1000 in some cases), the general public has gone cheaper, faster, simpler. Especially in the last decade or so, where technology has galloped past everything....
The general public is also very stupid. They are easily swayed and have a knack for conspicuous consumption. There will never be a "good enough", because we are always inventing ways to make our everyday lives more complicated. Sure they say that technology makes things easier, but does it really?
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post #10 of 11
8/25/09 at 9:14am
they call it "dumbing things down", it's very common these days...luckily, "good enough" is never enough
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post #11 of 11
12/14/09 at 7:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by marvin View Post
Good article, though somewhat questionable examples. It's really hard to call the Kindle a 'good enough' low end device, and the Predator doesn't share the same marketspace as the F-16 unless you expand the marketspace to 'things that fly and shoot missiles'.
Totally agree with you. They compared the Predator, a reconnaissance drone plane to the A-10 Thunderbolt, a close air support plane. That's like comparing a Jeep to a tank.

Back to the topic. There's a reason for "The Good Enough Revolution". I don't need a $10,000 golden Rolex (sorry to all you watch-fiers!), I just need to know the time. I don't need a $1000 HD Sony camera, I need a Flip to record our vacation. I don't need $1000 Bose/Sennheiser/whatever, I just need the iBuds. I don't need FLACs, I won't notice the difference with my iBuds....
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