ENOUGH!!!!

What a day!

So I'm rebuilding my computer, (the one that failed for unknown reasons wiping approximately 500G worth of saved data and programs) and I spend all week trying to get it fixed back up and working correctly. I load all my Valve brand games back up on it, only to have them all fail again after the HUGE process of installation, update decryption update some more etc ad nauseum. I don't lose my temper, instead I just start working on the wireless network stuff. So I work on the Linksys brand stuff on my network attempting to make certain it is all updated and functioning. It doesn't. The cards in the computers work in spurts, on again and off again, and the wireless gaming adapter (which is a HUGE pain in the ass to reconfigure) quits working ENTIRELY. After resisting the urge to take a hammer to it, I get a call from the Sprint Rep, (scheduled, and late by 35 minutes) to work on my work phones Direct Connect, which hasn't been working correctly since I got it. After nearly losing the gentleman because of a failure by my JAWBONE brand headset to disconnect/reconnect in a timely and correct fashion, we finally manage to get going and work on the damned thing. After several hold periods and several tests, he declares that he has made the necessary adjustments and that beyond this there isn't anything else they can do. (Time will tell if it is fixed, or if it is just another blatant example of a company taking money in good faith for products that don't in fact, actually WORK.)

So at this point, feeling somewhat re-empowered I return to my previous task of attempting to fix the computer/networking problems I'm having. I work on my iBook trying to ensure that both the iBook, the wireless gaming adapter for ps2, and the two windows computers all connect together and run harmoniously on the network. Of course, it is at this point that I discover that the iBook has lost it's ability to run without being plugged into the wall. The lithium ion battery reads 50%, and apparently, this means the end of the service life for the battery. The SHORT version of this is that I realize that without the added functionality of the iBook being portable, I have Zero need for wireless in the house.

So, once again, I have squandered an extraordinary amount of my personal highly valuable free time trying to make products I have purchased actually do what they were advertised to do. I am QUITE CERTAIN in ALL CASES, that any representatives advice on the subject would be that my stuff is too old and needs to be replaced by the NEW version of the same style of stuff.

I should mention at this point, that through Out the “service life” for all of this equipment, I have waited patiently for the companies to produce the updates necessary to fix all the BUGS in the software which prevented the hardware from working as it was supposed to. So here we are. We are now at a point where the hardware I have been trying to get working on my tiny insignificant little home network all to work together THROUGHOUT it's service life with ZERO success. Now, I don't know about the rest of you nice folks, but I'm not exactly technically challenged. I have a fairly decent amount of experience dealing with this crap. So it makes me stop to wonder......

JUST WHEN DID IT BECOME OK FOR COMPANIES TO STEAL FROM PEOPLE LIKE THIS?

I find it wholly unacceptable that one of my most favored games has seemingly locked me out of playing said game because of the built-in theft deterrent aspects of the software aren't working as intended. I cannot believe that untold numbers of the American public have been left holding unusable hardware or software after having paid for it with every reasonable expectation that the products should WORK.

I have been dying to get my hands on the latest generation of video gaming hardware and I am in desperate need of a new cell phone, laptop, and networking equipment. But you know what? I am not going to give ANY of these companies ONE WORTHLESS AMERICAN PENNY. I realize I am conceivably ALONE in this stance, but I REFUSE to continue to pay these companies for shit that doesn't WORK!

But then I thought about it and I realized, no, this is pandemic. This is the same situation as when I pull through a drive-through and open the wrapper on something as simple as a cheeseburger and find it is COLD, or that the fountain drink has such a GROSSLY out of whack mixture as to make it undrinkable.

It's everything and it's all around us. Nothing works. Nothing is good anymore, and what's more infuriating is that these companies expect us to shell out BIG TIME for these goods and services.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm drawing the line.

I'll not pay the money for new computers or game equipment or phone equipment that either fails or doesn't work. NOT GOING TO DO IT.

Until you can produce something of value, I'm SAVING my extremely hard earned cash. I have HAD IT............with designed obsolescence! If a product isn't solid, it has NO BUSINESS being sold to the public under the guise of something that is!

I pity the fool who approaches me with the desire to sell me an extended warranty. That poor soul is going to get flamed on a level that is likely completely inappropriate to the offense. I don't care.

Industry has decided in it's ultimate GREED that they will not sell us well constructed things anymore. What they are selling to us is the IDEA of whatever it is. We buy into the IDEA that we could have this item and we beg them to MAKE IT WORK! They then BLACKMAIL us for PROTECTION MONEY to ensure that our new shiny bauble WORKS!

IT's LUDICROUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, Heads up to Industry: I'm holding you ACCOUNTABLE. RETRO ACTIVE. You get to burn me ONCE. After that, I will NEVER purchase anything from your “brand” AGAIN! Get it!?