> This thing looks as if will be very expensive and work only some of the time. Can you identify a technology that didn't have that quality initially? Even a s

> This thing looks as if will be very expensive and work only some of the time. Can you identify a technology that didn't have that quality initially? Even a simple thing like a pencil - what a waste of money cutting a precision tube inside a stick and somehow installing a carbon rod, which wears out so fast you can't even finish a book without having to build a whole new one. Oh, and it randomly breaks while you're using it and requires special metal sharpening tools. If it was obviously cheap and reliable from a quick glance, it would have already been invented at a time before it was so obvious!