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I think most things we buy have a life. When I pay $$ to get shoes, I dont expect that to run forever. Sure, it might be nice but I _understand_ it might lose i

I think most things we buy have a life. When I pay $$ to get shoes, I dont expect that to run forever. Sure, it might be nice but I _understand_ it might lose its life after a while. We expect software similarly to run forever, but I think we need to start associating life against it. Now if a shoe only works for a week, I'm not going to buy it. If it works for a year, sure I'll take it.Similarly for a digital good (phone, computer, software) we need to come up with a baseline on what the acceptable number for life is. It cant be Infinity, but it should be reasonable.

aylmao 8y ago
The big difference here I think is for most things we buy, we're mostly control over their longevity. I can take care of something and have it last longer. This all ties into ownership. If I own something I have control over it, so I can re-sell it if I'd ever like to re-coup some value or let someone else make use of it. I can lend it to a friend, and have it back to use or lend again. I can give it as a gift to a friend or family member. I can keep it indefinitely as a memory. All of these are reasons why some people still have a NES, GameCube, etc. It's probably not that they've been playing on the console for 30 years. They either kept the NES they owned as kids, or bought one second-hand for the nostalgia, or got it as a gift from someone who knows how much they like classic games, etc. There are still have tournaments for games on old consoles. Old games are perfectly good games— they don't have the same wow factor, but they are as fun today as they have always been. Will future "classic games" be lost to history, or available only when a publisher decides to monetize the nostalgia of the public with a re-release?
houndsofnone 8y ago
>> When I pay $$ to get shoes, I dont expect that to run forever. The better analogy is: when you buy a book, do you expect you can read it again in ten years? People who bought 1st pressings of Beatles albums 60 years ago can still play them with their grandkids. I can still play old SNES with my siblings at Christmas. But imagine a 2019 being unplayable in 2029. It's reasonable to be concerned.

aylmao 8y ago

The big difference here I think is for most things we buy, we're mostly control over their longevity. I can take care of something and have it last longer. This all ties into ownership. If I own something I have control over it, so I can re-sell it if I'd ever like to re-coup some value or let someone else make use of it. I can lend it to a friend, and have it back to use or lend again. I can give it as a gift to a friend or family member. I can keep it indefinitely as a memory. All of these are reasons why some people still have a NES, GameCube, etc. It's probably not that they've been playing on the console for 30 years. They either kept the NES they owned as kids, or bought one second-hand for the nostalgia, or got it as a gift from someone who knows how much they like classic games, etc. There are still have tournaments for games on old consoles. Old games are perfectly good games— they don't have the same wow factor, but they are as fun today as they have always been. Will future "classic games" be lost to history, or available only when a publisher decides to monetize the nostalgia of the public with a re-release?

houndsofnone 8y ago

>> When I pay $$ to get shoes, I dont expect that to run forever. The better analogy is: when you buy a book, do you expect you can read it again in ten years? People who bought 1st pressings of Beatles albums 60 years ago can still play them with their grandkids. I can still play old SNES with my siblings at Christmas. But imagine a 2019 being unplayable in 2029. It's reasonable to be concerned.