[Hervé]

I once talk to an guy that worked in a washing machines factory, he told me... "yep things were more solid in the past, but hey do you think Philips, Whirlpool, etc... want you to buy a machine every 30 years..? "(LOL°)

If it was the case today... I think you'd be un-employed Hyltom...

[ivox3]

But its an interesting thought that why did manufacturers then desire to produce items that did last ? Certainly the idea of planned obsolescence wasn't so abstract as to be missed? ....or was it missed because pride weighed more heavily in what people produced.. ?

[hyltom]

My comment was ironic...seeing this TV remind me people who said that vinyl are better than CD so i think it was funny to compare the quality of a cathodic TV and a LCD or plasma TV...but my joke has failled

At the same time, it's true that product before was much stronger and well build than now...they were not made in China but things are changing, product even made in China become better and better, also because customer from Europe and US always request more: more quality, more appealing, more safe, more ecologic, power save. And now a product end not because it can not work but because it's no more trendy.

[Hervé]

well it was just the fact that people kept object longer... sometimes objects would be transmitted from mother to daughter... so the general motto was quality... I remember an old "Michelin tires" commercial saying "Michelin, the durable quality".... for a tire...

but all that was at the beginig of industrialization of manufactued goods... so all the people started to buy stuff... first from catalogs they would receive at home... no stores to buy from at that time... or so little only in the large cities... so all the sales they made at that time were "first time buyer sales", then they started to run out of new clients... and the ancient clients would not buy a new one as long as the one they originally bought worked all right...

.. and so they started to produce cheaper models... so some people eventually bought another because it was cheaper... then cheaper... and cheaper... and off course the quality suffered.. (as of today..)

ok, but then they needed something for the people to buy even if they have one or two, and so they came with new designs... as a result, we buy now new stuff... not only because it is cheap (and quality cheap too), but just because we want the new color... or form... all supposedly working better... (notice today the word "quality disappeared ..)

yesterday, they talked about Steve Job on radio, saying this guy is here to create an artificial shortage... so now we entering even in a new era...The artificial shortage...

(hey good idea... lol)

[Hervé]

My comment was ironic...seeing this TV remind me people who said that vinyl are better than CD so i think it was funny to compare the quality of a cathodic TV and a LCD or plasma TV...but my joke has failled

At the same time, it's true that product before was much stronger and well build than now...they were not made in China

we learned to Chinese people how to do it our cheap way... and they did it.. and even better than what we thought... hehe..

BUT, even in China, a century ago, you could find real quality products..

But the Palm goes to Wallmart... they'll tell companies they buy from.. how to fire people... so they products can be sold for cheaper price to themselves... haha.. priceless..

[hyltom]

BUT, even in China, a century ago, you could find real quality products.

handicraft product of course...even today you can find.

[Hervé]

indeed, handicraft products still gives the best results...

[rusteberg]

look this thick glass in front...for sure it's Wii proof .

Great mental image! DING!

thanks for the comments and interesting conversation. herve, thanks for the grammar check...