Do We Pay Too Much?
Recently Mr. JM got an email that quoted the Ultimate HP PC. He read out the following… ‘Sporting dual ATI Radeon X2900 XT video cards, each with 512 GB of GDDR4 SDRAM, an Intel Core2 Extreme Quad-Core 3.0GHz QX6850 CPU, 2 GB 1066MHz Corsair PC2-8500 SDRAM, three hard drives in a RAID array, and liquid cooling for the video cards and the CPU,’ …as if I would actually know what it meant. Apparently it is high on the ‘Wow!’ factor and is seriously fast.
But it sells for $US6200 and you’d have to ask yourself, is a computer really worth that much to me? 
How much does computing cost?
Well, it depends on your uses. If your ‘Oh Fuck!’ reaction is to do with using the internet for browsing and looking up weird facts, the cost of your PC will be low. If you want to play the latest games on a machine that removes the need for central heating, the above machine is for you. But in most Western countries, $US1000 (or equivalent) would buy you a very nice desktop or a fair to middling laptop.
Then comes the software cost. Do you need Vista? Well, if you like to road test someone’s problem child and be the first to experience esoteric problems that mean little to anyone not bleeding from the multiple contusions caused by the sharp edges inside a PC box, Vista could be just the thing for you.
Windows XP is tried and tested over five years & Microsoft is about to release a third major ‘fix’ for the problems that seem endemic to any MS software.
Imagine a car manufacturer selling you its latest model with the promise that, although there could be faults with the steering or brakes, and they aren’t sure the engine will actually hold together over 30mph, that they will ‘have it fixed’ in the model slated for release in June, or maybe November, but certainly before next Christmas.
There is a low cost alternative. It’s called Open Source. This is software that has been put together and developed by nerds and geeks who believe there are better ways to do things than pay a monolithic Corporation to allow you the privilege to be their guinea pigs with your precious data.
Linux – the bastard child of Unix, (an operating system venerable & tried in banking, database, networking & internet servers) has come of age with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to rival Windows and a swag of applications software to allow you to throw Office out the Window.
More to come on this, but Google for Linux, for Open Office, and for Scribus. High quality computing doesn’t actually have to cost the rights to your newborn child.
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