Comment by modoc | Hacker News Reader

Comment by modoc | Hacker News Reader

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Honestly, this isn't that bad. IMHO this isn't different than an car dealer charging $100+ for an oil change. There are people who can't/don't want to do it themselves, so it makes sense to pay someone else to do it. (Don't even talk about Jiffy Lube. I wouldn't take my enemy's rental to them.)

The folks here are mostly computer people, so we look at that and say "I could do that myself in 15 minutes!", but most people can't. Struggling with the potential wireless and firewall issues, TV format, resolution, audio formats, etc... can be frustrating and time consuming for lots of people.

Have you ever paid a plumber to replace a hot water heater or fix a burst pipe? The plumber goes home and thinks to himself "Man, I can't believe these people pay me $300 to replace a hot water heater! That's easy work!" when most people here don't have the tools or know-how to do it.

The thing is though that is relatively easy to google, so I don't think there are that many problems for those of us who frequent this place.

150$ after tax isn't too bad, so it would be worth spending a couple of hours reading up on how to do it and by the tools.

You have to look at it realistically. Yes, you can google it. But do you can your own vegetables at your house? You can google how to do that too, but do you? You can google how to fix your car, but do you do that? You can google how to build your own house, but you probably didn't do that either.

I'm not trying to single you out, just illustrate a point. People would rather pay someone else to do the labor. We are now a services industry. Our economy is now based on paying someone else to do the things you are too incompetent, lazy, or busy to do for yourself.

There's a perfectly valid reason why too: Technology is getting more complicated than the consumer can comprehend. Home networking, computer backups, cell phones, .. it's all a mess and eventually the people who are buying it just won't understand it.

It's good news for the geeks. The world is changing and more people are needing our services than there those of us who can satisfy them.

It's relatively easy to Google up instructions on filing basic legal forms, too. People still pay lawyers. A lot of simple auto repairs require nothing but basic tools and a trip to Pep Boys. People still pay shop rates to get it done.

The only reason we talk about this is because we're geeks and we'll never get it through our heads that keeping this information in-core is a net lose for most people.

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