The Software "Shell Game" or How to Spend Good Money on Very Little

Shortly after World War II, within a decade of it's end, many manufacturers discovered that unless they did something interesting or colorful new products didn't sell. Part of the reason was that American products were pretty well made and lasted a long time. Another reason was that many people were NOT that fashionable and as long as the car ran fine, the refrigerator continued to keep things cold and the oven continued to cook food, there was no reason to replace those things.

Of course the car was a slightly different matter. Engines made prior to the 1980s just didn't hold up well after fifty thousand miles. Oil and shoddy (by today's standards) tolerances were the primary reasons.

Still, manufacturers did their level best to continue to crank out products and try to sell them to the buying public. Part of the effort meant that, for a time at least, you could get two-tone kitchen appliances, odd colors (remember Avocado green appliances?) and sometimes lots of chrome.

The software industry is trying to do something along those lines, but in some cases what they are pulling is (or should be) illegal. I'll name a particular case in point shortly.

This is a valid question.

Case in point. Almost all of the improvements to computer processors are not taken advantage by software developers the same year. In fact it takes developers, once they know what the improvements are, at least two years to catch up. The reason is simple, hardware manufacturers keep many of the specifications, particularly for processors, secret until release. If the software manufacturer doesn't know those secrets or the specifications, they can't take advantage of and code them into the software.

That means that software designed to take advantage of particular additions or changes to the processor typically come out two or three years after the hardware does. Of course it is not in the software vendor/creator's best interests to let the public know that. Nevertheless, this is indeed the way things typically work in the industry.

Case in point, I use a popular office suite. The last version before my upgrade was five years old. Now I know this is pretty old for software, but lets be honest here. If it ran five years ago it should run even better on a new computer...without modification. In fact, it does! Additionally, since software is simply a bunch of code, it should not only continue to run at five years old, it should continue to run (even better with each new computer) for the next twenty or thirty years. As long, that is, as the processors overall operations do not change drastically in that two decades. That I bought an updated version (just before the latest release) of this suite means that I now have the version that takes advantage of all that my five year old computer processor can do. The next new version, one I am not going to buy, makes so few improvements its not worth my upgrading.

From an automotive standpoint the newest suite has bigger fins that the version I just purchased. Neither version does that much more than the version they are meant to replace. In fact, I could go back to the old version and no one would know or care.

Forced Obsolescence
Lately I've seen something else happen. Updates to existing software that disable it followed by notices from the vendor reminding the end user to upgrade. Yes, I installed an update that killed the application; as postings reveal this was an intentional act on the part of the software vendor.

This bothers me a great deal as I always read the entire licensing agreements and nowhere did I see myself giving the vendor any right to modify to the point of non-functionality, any software installed on my computer. I believe the vendor has broken the law by damaging a product I paid good money for. In fact, did so without my permission and without warning me that the "upgrade" would damage my installation.

Of course there are exceptions and most of these revolve around gaming and video processors that are faster and display more pixels & colors.

Of course you are going to want the latest version of your single-person shooter or role-playing or adventure game. Game technology does keep getting better and with faster processors and better video displays and cards the games become more "real" and the action more believable.

Other exceptions might include scientific specific software that most of us will neither use nor particularly care about.