The Day The Mobile Gold Rush Stood Still
It’s official. The days of high-priced home or onsite computer services are over. The writing is on the…Wall,…..St. (See Video Below) What goes up, must eventually come down,… “spinning wheel, got to go round,…talkin’ ’bout your troubles it’s a cryin’ sin…” (apologies to Blood, Sweat, & Tears - boomers will know what I’m talkin’ bout).
“Affordable” and “Honorable” is the Key to our salvation. Those guys who come to your home or business with their coordinated shirt/car ensemble have systematically overinflated their value like an inner tube. We don’t have affordable repair service exactly because we never had it. (See “Austin, A Computer Paradise?”) I won’t get into the macroeconomic theory and bore you to tears, but hey, we’ve lost our manufacturing base, dude…and the service/information sector is what drives our economy these days. These trade workers in turn rely on the the average person of modest means to be able buy their skilled labor. Just like the stock market overvaluation, the chest of the high-end repair technician has generally been overinflated by perception, or what the Wall Streeters like to call irrational exuberance”. I can’t put it better than one of the most famous Streeters of all:
“How much is Enough, Gordon?” “It’s not a question of Enough, buddy…It’s a zero-sum game…somebody wins, somebody loses”…..”The Illusion, has become reality…The more real it becomes, the more desperate, they want it, Capitalism at its finest…”
Great Scene…(Can’t wait for the sequel)…OK…I’m back. So, just as the stocks fell from the precipice, so will the fortunes of the Mighty Tech Geek, unless he learns to follow the path of the righteous. What am I talking about? Well, as above, so below. Too often I get these laments from my clients: “I’m computer Illiterate…”, “I wish I knew more about how to repair them…”, etc. Without realizing it, they’re giving us pseudo gurus artificial power. When we reach a critical mass of people who start to realize this…the floodgates will burst, and if the stock market is any indication, its already happening…The Iron Gates of Adam Smith are coming down on this nation with a loud clang. The waters are seeking their own level in the markets as well as in the overall economy. Over-priced mortgages, products, and services can’t be sustained (even in the self-sufficient country of Texas). The simple fact of the Law of Economy is that you can’t live beyond your means for very long without having to pay it back at some point. Why am saying all this? Why do I continually rage against the machine of the corporate IT business? Simply because I care. I care about the future of my industry and my nation, and I don’t want the greed driven, corporate mindset, that dominates so much of this business, to ruin it for hard-working, honorable, people and their families. I believe that the servicing of our pc’s and high-tech machinery needs to evolve into a more consumer-friendly model that starts with fairness in pricing, and moves into showing users, and owners how to be more self-reliant, and include training and free technical support in their already discounted rate programs. (See “Bill of Rights”) I believe this because the philosophy of “everyone for themselves” isn’t working in our culture, and our very survival may depend on learning to look out for one another instead of just competing for rapidly diminishing resources. (All we are is dust in the Wind…) How the mighty have fallen…I wonder what G. Gecko will say in WSII…