Comments on: E-Waste http://tcextra.com/jamesclark/2006/10/14/e-waste/ Tech Info for the Masses Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:26:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Geoff Brown http://tcextra.com/jamesclark/2006/10/14/e-waste/#comment-25 Geoff Brown Sat, 11 Nov 2006 20:40:03 +0000 http://tcextra.com/jamesclark/2006/10/14/e-waste/#comment-25 No question that the old computing iron (and plastic and other various substances) is becoming a real problem, not just here but virtually everywhere. Late in the last millennium, some of us undertook to (1) train people about computers -- how to use them, but importantly, how they worked and (2) try to recycle some of the old hardware that even then was starting to accumulate. Paul DePaolo will be the most recognizable name associated with that effort, principally housed at the Douglas Library in Canaan, but there were others as well. I cannot say we were ever short of donated hardware. Way back then, people were already eager to get rid of that 286 or 386 that was cluttering the back room. We did educate quite a number of people (the approach was basically 'build your own PC and you own it' and I think that we were all vigorously patting ourselves on the back at our wisdom when one day the whole thing began to fall apart. No, this wasn't a governmental fiat, or a drying up of either donors or recipients, it was this. A young mom came in one evening with the objective of building a PC for her family. I don't remember her name, or much about her except that she drove at least 20 minutes each week to get there. She worked hard. She learned a lot. We were inspired by her dedication, and when she needed a part we tended to cherry-pick the best, most modern parts we could scavenge from the old PCs that were being donated. After a few weeks, she proudly took her new PC home. Much to our surprise, she was back the very next week. I could tell as soon as I saw her face that things had not worked out, and I was right. "Captain Crunch won't run" were her words. Lightbulb time for all of us. There we had been thinking that we were building PCs that could do a little internet, a little family bookkeeping, maybe a Christmas letter, thereby satisfying the computing needs of an entire household. How wrong we were. It was barely 2000 and already we were like generals fighting the last war. The expectations people -- especially the very young people -- had already begun to have of computers had already changed from simply being a 'computer' to being some kind of hybrid information/entertainment device and we had not seen it happening. I would say that our little computer exchange held on for another year, more or less, before it petered out. I'm not sure we all realized exactly what had happened, but we had reached the point in the product life cycle where you can't even give them away. The message here is that (1) there's a big problem that's only getting bigger and (2) you can pretty much forget about sticking your family members with your 'old iron' -- doing that will only delay its trip to the transfer station a matter of a few months, or even less, and frustrate the dickens out of people in the process. Cheers!! No question that the old computing iron (and plastic and other various substances) is becoming a real problem, not just here but virtually everywhere. Late in the last millennium, some of us undertook to (1) train people about computers — how to use them, but importantly, how they worked and (2) try to recycle some of the old hardware that even then was starting to accumulate. Paul DePaolo will be the most recognizable name associated with that effort, principally housed at the Douglas Library in Canaan, but there were others as well.

I cannot say we were ever short of donated hardware. Way back then, people were already eager to get rid of that 286 or 386 that was cluttering the back room. We did educate quite a number of people (the approach was basically ‘build your own PC and you own it’ and I think that we were all vigorously patting ourselves on the back at our wisdom when one day the whole thing began to fall apart.

No, this wasn’t a governmental fiat, or a drying up of either donors or recipients, it was this. A young mom came in one evening with the objective of building a PC for her family. I don’t remember her name, or much about her except that she drove at least 20 minutes each week to get there. She worked hard. She learned a lot. We were inspired by her dedication, and when she needed a part we tended to cherry-pick the best, most modern parts we could scavenge from the old PCs that were being donated.

After a few weeks, she proudly took her new PC home. Much to our surprise, she was back the very next week. I could tell as soon as I saw her face that things had not worked out, and I was right. “Captain Crunch won’t run” were her words.

Lightbulb time for all of us. There we had been thinking that we were building PCs that could do a little internet, a little family bookkeeping, maybe a Christmas letter, thereby satisfying the computing needs of an entire household.

How wrong we were. It was barely 2000 and already we were like generals fighting the last war. The expectations people — especially the very young people — had already begun to have of computers had already changed from simply being a ‘computer’ to being some kind of hybrid information/entertainment device and we had not seen it happening.

I would say that our little computer exchange held on for another year, more or less, before it petered out. I’m not sure we all realized exactly what had happened, but we had reached the point in the product life cycle where you can’t even give them away.

The message here is that (1) there’s a big problem that’s only getting bigger and (2) you can pretty much forget about sticking your family members with your ‘old iron’ — doing that will only delay its trip to the transfer station a matter of a few months, or even less, and frustrate the dickens out of people in the process.

Cheers!!

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