"It's planned obsolescence" but does this make it "better". No, it's an excuse to make inferior products for huge profit gain...It actually encourages shoddy products.
However if we're using it as an analogy say for utorrent we can plug it in like this
Utorrent 1.8 (or popular older version) would be the Atari, newer utorrent would be say xbox 360 or modern console equivalent.
Utorrent 1.8 has less or no "moving parts" per se, you also have to consider manufacturing at that time was better quality as well in regard to craftsmanship. New utorrent has more moving parts, and craftmanship regarding manufacturing has changed to require less labor, and took a hit in quality to lower prices and production cost. This leads to a product that breaks down faster and has undesirable effects.
Also remaining functional for longer does not make something technically superiour, it just makes it more reliable.
Modern devices have to deal with significant long term reliability problems even without being designed to break down. Electromigration which used to be a very minor problem in the past is one of them.
this is true, but the fact remains, it out lasted modern gaming consoles. Technologically speak, yes they are different and built different.
Technologically superior, no, infact it was inferior to it's arcade counter part. I never said it was superior. However, when it comes to craftmanship? Yes, it's superior simply because it is reliable, and has stood the test of time. The same aspect can be applied to software. I want a superior software as far as craftsman ship goes, that does withstand the test of time and can still be applicable without fucking up all the time. This can be applied to any product.
Atari 2600 was way simpler in design, too. I mean fuck, the Xenos chip from 360 alone is several times more complicated than the entire system of an Atari 2600... and in comparison to more modern ICs, even that is stone-age equipment. No moving parts in Atari 2600 either.
The part in bold is what I love most about this statement. Simpler design! This is a statement people tend to forget or don't acknowledge. People seem to think, the more complicated something is, the more superior it is. Not really. Take for example the chair. It's simple, comfortable, and functional. Now take the same chair, add a few gadgets and gizmos, say a heating pad and a drink dispenser, pretty cool right? and now you have this complex, functioning and seemingly comfortable new chair. However, something happens to the chair, the heating pad breaks, causing it to over heat, burning your ass, and the drink dispenser goes hay wire and makes a sticky mess all over your house. Is that same complicated chair superior to the old simplistic chair? hardly. Your old chair didn't have a melt down in your living room. Older chair = superior even though simplistic.
Look all I'm saying is newer doesn't always equal better. The consoles were used as an analogy, not to argue specifics on the consoles themselves. Older can be more reliable in terms of use than the newer. Ergo Newer doesn't always equal better. However I didn't say everything new can't be better than the old either.
