[sdiy] Real cause of DIY death

[Rainer Buchty]

>Simply put: lack of what people now consider 'amazing'.

Yes and no.

True, back then technology was amazing by default. There were so many 
things going on and you could "feel" quantum leaps from time to time.

Take home computers for instance. From the old Altair 8080 to TRS80, 
C64, Amiga/Atari. It was always some major step forward.

Then came the PC and improvement turned into something which constantly 
took place. Look at memory (SDRAM, harddrives), CPU speeds, and GPU 
power. If you wanted to participate in each "quantum leap", you could 
upgrade your machines every 6 months -- and still don't actually *feel* 
that quantum leap because we got used to that development.

Next thing is that one major driving force behind DIY was also saving 
money. You built things cause it was cheaper.

Today you build things and they will become *way* more expensive than 
the average gadget you can get at the next Fry's or whatever store -- 
assuming, that you can get all the parts you require. No probs if your 
min buy is a few 1,000s to 100,000s...

>Today, there is a Dell ad in the paper for a 2GHz PC with 120GB drive
>and a flat screen for like $399. Yawn....ZZzzzzz......Oh look a 5GB
>'no-name' MP3 player at Fry's for $79......Burp..........pass the
>donuts.

Exactly. And now go build that damn MP3 player with parts you get at the 
next electronics store -- the result will be bulky and probably 5-times 
more expensive, not counting the endless hours you spent with 
development.

*That* is what kills DIY.

Back in the days you could always argue that it's worth the hassles 
cause you save money.

Today the only reason for DIY is that you want something special which 
is not available on the market.

Rainer