While in some developing countries having a square meal for a kid is something wanting, the craze for gadgets is something evident, like in the West.
It is not the work the gadget does but it is the status symbol that carry with it that matters.
It is not the work the gadget does but it is the status symbol that carry with it that matters.
For a fancy iPod or a laptop may costs a lot. The money spent can be better utilized to buy some school equipment to help children's education but again the money somehow get channeled out.
For example money spent on a flashy Apple Macintosh computer could have been converted to about 25 to 30 OLPS (one laptop per child) but what matters again is the profit per each item sold but not the number of uses or users the item provides,.
This is true in the developing world too, unfortunately.
Following is a summary of gadget mania, I once suffered but somehow I transmigrated this phenomenon.
I have gone through this phase of mania in a mild and moderate manner as a young one.
I had to buy the correct brand , when I buy something new, say a camera.
Then when the camera prices came down I had several and found that if one has a "good camera eye" it does not matter what camera one uses.
One can always catch the moment in a snapshot with any makeshift camera if one is prepared.
In came the video camera, the whole ball game changed.
This was the time I was a bachelor.
The money and choice were not a problem then.
Then came the computer.
They were expensive but I had to buy (Commodore 64-128, Amiga, Atari) what was available.
When the notebooks of old era came I could not afford them.
I thank god for that.
I lost interest in them till Windows came into existence.
We were hooked to it and trapped beyond our control till I discovered Linux and meaning of freedom and correct choice.
Then followed the period of transition in my mind along with struggling with money matters.
When there are money matters there is no choice left, one has to survive preserving only a few of one's favorite hobbies that included computers to me.
Common sense, pragmatism and rationalization take precedence over the trends, emotions an attachment.
When the comparatively cheap laptops hit the market, I had to make a choice.
My calculations told me I can have there desktops for the price of one laptop. One for me in office, one at home for me and one for the kids, all assembled to my specification with the hardware available at the time.
Now I have 6 out of 7 old computers all doings (thanks to Linux) some useful function at home.
One computer busted while recording Cricket World Cup in 2007.
The rationalization that was, I don't have to carry any heavy luggage (laptop) on the move.
Then I bought the first laptop (I needed one to test Linux distributions) IBM of course, one third the price in Singapore without an operating system and booted it with Linux at the airport on my return home.
Another second hand laptop (for testing Linux) and new netbook (for my daughter) were added to my armoury without feeling the pinch.
This is my rationalization going berserk.
I carry a cell phone (it is a hindrance to my peace and wellbeing) only when I travel abroad and feel like dropping it into a dustbin in the airport but resisted and gave it to my wife instead.
My transmigration boils down to 3 phases.
1. Choice with lot of spare money in hand
2. Pragmatism with barely enough money in hand to survive
3. Rationalization while enjoying all the intellectual freedom that one get with Linux.
If Linux did not come into existence I would not have known what I mean by freedom of choice.
