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Do we need a word for it? I've got a 1996 Toyota van and a 2ish year old Dell XPS, both serve my needs well enough. Some new tools are appreciably better than

Do we need a word for it? I've got a 1996 Toyota van and a 2ish year old Dell XPS, both serve my needs well enough. Some new tools are appreciably better than older ones, others aren't; I generally prefer to not spend extra money/time for things in the second category. The 25-year-old car still takes a driver's time and some fuel, and moves stuff around just like a brand new one would. There's no hope of using a 1995 computer for compiling a big C++ project from a fancy IDE, while video chatting over WiFi. Remember that a computer from 1995 would've seemed a bit old in 1997 too.

ido 6y ago
Not great for compiling a big c++ project, but then again that's pretty much the top end of "normal" demands (I haven't had to use c++ in over a decade for example & worked as a developer the entire time). A top of the line 2008 desktop (especially if it had been occasionally upgraded but even if it hadn't) will still be faster than a low end laptop as described above (the kind you can buy for €200-300 at Lidl) & perfectly good for front end web dev (what I happen to be doing for a living currently). It would upgradable be something like 3ghz core 2 quad, 8gb ram and reasonably fast (non-m2) SSD. I've certainly done web dev on less than that.
elpescado 6y ago
While 25-year-old car lacks many of new tech gadgets it still is likely to have most important conveniences (A/C etc). The most important difference is safety (while not death cages like cars from 50 years ago, 25-year-old cars are still light years behind current cars) and emissions. The latter means that soon those cars might be banned from cities (at least in Europe), which renders "moves stuff around just like a brand new one" invalid.
- bacon_waffle 6y ago
  I would rather be identified by what I use the tool to accomplish, not by the particular (age) tool. The risk/reward of car travel in 1996 was OK with me at the time... It's great that cities are considering banning vehicles over emissions - I bike, walk, bus, or take the electric car (recently bought a Leaf) when just moving myself. The van is for moving big stuff and/or longer rural trips; it's an example of a tool that still serves my purposes and is not something that I want to be identified by.

ido 6y ago

Not great for compiling a big c++ project, but then again that's pretty much the top end of "normal" demands (I haven't had to use c++ in over a decade for example & worked as a developer the entire time). A top of the line 2008 desktop (especially if it had been occasionally upgraded but even if it hadn't) will still be faster than a low end laptop as described above (the kind you can buy for €200-300 at Lidl) & perfectly good for front end web dev (what I happen to be doing for a living currently). It would upgradable be something like 3ghz core 2 quad, 8gb ram and reasonably fast (non-m2) SSD. I've certainly done web dev on less than that.

elpescado 6y ago

While 25-year-old car lacks many of new tech gadgets it still is likely to have most important conveniences (A/C etc). The most important difference is safety (while not death cages like cars from 50 years ago, 25-year-old cars are still light years behind current cars) and emissions. The latter means that soon those cars might be banned from cities (at least in Europe), which renders "moves stuff around just like a brand new one" invalid.

bacon_waffle 6y ago
I would rather be identified by what I use the tool to accomplish, not by the particular (age) tool. The risk/reward of car travel in 1996 was OK with me at the time... It's great that cities are considering banning vehicles over emissions - I bike, walk, bus, or take the electric car (recently bought a Leaf) when just moving myself. The van is for moving big stuff and/or longer rural trips; it's an example of a tool that still serves my purposes and is not something that I want to be identified by.