4 ms·

12 Obsolete Technologies Americans Still Use

4 points by scholia 13y ago

taylodl 13y ago
In other words poor people, people living in rural areas and people in niche markets are using old technology. Hardly a surprise.
Tloewald 13y ago
Fax machines are the big one. They were obsolete ten years ago and still cheerfully screwing up documents and wasting paper today. I'd argue that the printer and books pretty much qualify.
- rkalfane 13y ago
  But then, fax machines are still the fastest and most usable way to transmit paper documents. It's way easier to fax something, than to scan and send it, then having the others print it. I think that we haven't found a good replacement for the fax machine.
  - AdrianRossouw 13y ago
    i'm pretty much a convert to hellosign.com most documents I deal with never make the transition to paper in the first place anymore.
- numo16 13y ago
  I get the most enjoyment out of people who keep fax machines around because they think it is more secure than email.
- snogglethorpe 13y ago
  Books? Maybe one day when somebody comes up with an adequate replacement...
varkson 13y ago
I can't tell if this article is supposed to be mocking these technologies or justifying their use. I don't see why landlines are dying, mobile phones are way too expensive for general use. Hell, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't have a landline.
- eitland 13y ago
  Serious? Where I live (across the pond) cellphones are the cheaper alternative. Landlines are all swapped for ip "landlines" or mobile phones not only for convenience but also for price.
  - scholia 13y ago
    In the UK, you have to have a landline (or cable) to have a wired Internet connection.
  - snogglethorpe 13y ago
    Cellphone pricing can be a bit of the wild-west... I have unlimited free calls to anybody with the same carrier—but calls to other carriers are really expensive, much more than a payphone. [I'm actually surprised this is even legal, but ...]
J_Darnley 13y ago
I'd take a CRT television or computer monitor over any widescreen flat display. The one I have next to my some-what old LCD looks much better when playing video. It can render 640x480 games correctly without some horrible scaling artefacts. I also wish there were still more pay phones in my local area.
mordae 13y ago
Actually, I can see why people want Dot Matrix Printers, http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers sums it nicely. Also, CRTs don't have only disadvantages, as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube#Advantages_and_disadvantages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube#Advantages_and... explains. The problem with faxes is that people continue to (wrongly) assume that you can't spoof them. Especially now that you can fax arbitrary PDF.
jemka 13y ago
Consumerism: Use something because it works (regardless of its age) and we'll mock you for not replacing it with something newer. If you use these products and they work for you, awesome. You know who misses out on the benefits of you switching? Corporations. So laugh at others for saving money while you spend half your paychecks on what's new and cool, just because it's new and cool. /rant
snogglethorpe 13y ago
A fairly stupid article, which seems to be pushing the silly idea that as soon as neat new tech A becomes popular, old tech B suddenly becomes completely obsolete and useless. The "cult of the new" you might call it. In reality almost all new tech, even that which is a good general replacement for something older, involves tradeoffs. Sometimes the bad points outweigh the good ones for use-cases slightly out of the mainstream. In other cases, the advantages of the new tech simply aren't great enough to warrant replacing something you already own. [I own a (small) old CRT TV. A new LCD TV might be neat and appeal to my gadget instinct, but ... why bother? I don't really use it so much, and the old one works well enough. I just don't care about it very much, and would rather spend the money on something I do care about.]

4 points by scholia 13y ago

In other words poor people, people living in rural areas and people in niche markets are using old technology. Hardly a surprise.

Tloewald 13y ago

Fax machines are the big one. They were obsolete ten years ago and still cheerfully screwing up documents and wasting paper today. I'd argue that the printer and books pretty much qualify.

rkalfane 13y ago
But then, fax machines are still the fastest and most usable way to transmit paper documents. It's way easier to fax something, than to scan and send it, then having the others print it. I think that we haven't found a good replacement for the fax machine.
- AdrianRossouw 13y ago
  i'm pretty much a convert to hellosign.com most documents I deal with never make the transition to paper in the first place anymore.
numo16 13y ago
I get the most enjoyment out of people who keep fax machines around because they think it is more secure than email.
snogglethorpe 13y ago
Books? Maybe one day when somebody comes up with an adequate replacement...

varkson 13y ago

I can't tell if this article is supposed to be mocking these technologies or justifying their use. I don't see why landlines are dying, mobile phones are way too expensive for general use. Hell, I don't think I know anyone who doesn't have a landline.

eitland 13y ago
Serious? Where I live (across the pond) cellphones are the cheaper alternative. Landlines are all swapped for ip "landlines" or mobile phones not only for convenience but also for price.
- scholia 13y ago
  In the UK, you have to have a landline (or cable) to have a wired Internet connection.
- snogglethorpe 13y ago
  Cellphone pricing can be a bit of the wild-west... I have unlimited free calls to anybody with the same carrier—but calls to other carriers are really expensive, much more than a payphone. [I'm actually surprised this is even legal, but ...]

J_Darnley 13y ago

I'd take a CRT television or computer monitor over any widescreen flat display. The one I have next to my some-what old LCD looks much better when playing video. It can render 640x480 games correctly without some horrible scaling artefacts. I also wish there were still more pay phones in my local area.

mordae 13y ago

Actually, I can see why people want Dot Matrix Printers, http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers sums it nicely. Also, CRTs don't have only disadvantages, as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube#Advantages_and_disadvantages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathode_ray_tube#Advantages_and... explains. The problem with faxes is that people continue to (wrongly) assume that you can't spoof them. Especially now that you can fax arbitrary PDF.

jemka 13y ago

Consumerism: Use something because it works (regardless of its age) and we'll mock you for not replacing it with something newer. If you use these products and they work for you, awesome. You know who misses out on the benefits of you switching? Corporations. So laugh at others for saving money while you spend half your paychecks on what's new and cool, just because it's new and cool. /rant

snogglethorpe 13y ago

A fairly stupid article, which seems to be pushing the silly idea that as soon as neat new tech A becomes popular, old tech B suddenly becomes completely obsolete and useless. The "cult of the new" you might call it. In reality almost all new tech, even that which is a good general replacement for something older, involves tradeoffs. Sometimes the bad points outweigh the good ones for use-cases slightly out of the mainstream. In other cases, the advantages of the new tech simply aren't great enough to warrant replacing something you already own. [I own a (small) old CRT TV. A new LCD TV might be neat and appeal to my gadget instinct, but ... why bother? I don't really use it so much, and the old one works well enough. I just don't care about it very much, and would rather spend the money on something I do care about.]