Last time we had a look at the prevailing practices of configuring computer systems. Nothing new was said that is not in everyone's knowledge. Unfortunately, that knowledge seldom metamorphoses into wisdom, and is applied to real life decision-making. If a new system with a higher performance is available at the price of even a low performing one on your desk, you need not necessarily fall for it. To pick an analogy, if four horses draw a buggy, all the four should perform almost at the same level to maintain the kinetic equilibrium. On the same reasoning, to function optimally, a high performing computer may necessitate changes in other parts of the system. This sets in the cascading process in hardware-software selection with obvious implications on investment requirements. Suppose a job could be satisfactorily done by a system that costs only Rs.10,000. You may have an option to acquire a more powerful system at a cost of Rs.50,000 to do the same job. Should mere higher power be the justification for buying the system? And what is the opportunity cost of this additional Rs.40 thousand investment any way? Nobody seems to take up this argument seriously.
The result is, what we find today both in offices and homes - are mostly cases of ego trips; my friend/colleague has a 200 MHz machine, so I should have a 200 MHz machine, preferably one with a higher power. We are also made to believe that to be in the cutting edge of the technology, we need a powerful machine. It is no better than the advertisement hypes of soft drink companies trying to impress the young ones to consume aerated drinks in preference to traditional lassi, fruit juice, sherbats and shikanji in order to be trendy!
What are the implications of the practices we follow today? The under utilisation of capacities is national waste indeed. Even when one chooses to be patriotic, the implication of such decisions is enormous at the institutional and corporate levels or on the family budget.
The rate of obsolescence is now so fast that acquisition of a computer system is better booked under revenue account than capital account. It may not pinch when an institution pays for it. But just imagine the condition of poor parents who get into the trap unknowingly. The obsolete systems only occupy space either on the desk or in the stores. The process of junking equipment is too cumbersome to follow. It is like a python devouring an antelope, neither can it gorge nor can it let go.
Maintenance is the major problem in running a not so state-of-art system. Spares and accessories vanish from the market as if these never existed. The situation forces people to continually upgrade/change their systems even when there is no such demand for the jobs to be performed.
The newspaper pages are now rampant with the advertisements of a dream or beyond dream PC at less than Rs.50,000. Taking the offers on their face value (not counting the finer prints and the hidden information), even payment of Rs.50,000 would deter buyers planning to buy in large numbers. For homes, only up-class metro-residents would buy these and place such pride acquisitions in their drawing room along with their music system, TV and video. Unfortunately many potential serious users in schools and colleges, university departments, small industries and businesses, self-employed professionals, will not be able to go anywhere near these. No wonder PC penetration in India is on low key.
Should we be the victims (by even our own choice) of today's waves of consumerism? A large segment of potential users cannot afford it. What is the way out then?
If we can facilitate the maintenance of the so-called obsolete machines with required supply of spares and components, half the problems will be solved. The market should be able to offer a wide range of choices starting from rock bottom price of say Rs.10,000. The task boils down to the creation and sustenance of a regular market with old work horses like 80286/386/486 based CPU with 1.2 FDD, and old 40/80 MB HDD in parallel with the state-of-art machines.
This kind of offer is prevalent in the grey market, but the customers are wary lest they are taken for a ride. Why blame the lesser mortals, the five star avatars are also good at it if you may ask those who had opted for the below Rs.20,000 a PC in 1997, and peoples PC scheme of old days.
The low-end machines are to be exhumed from the graves in stores and junkyards — not only from within the country, but also sourced from outside the country, overhauled and/or reassembled. These machines could be offered at throw away prices. We need to find an efficient way of utilising the TV as monitors thereby cutting down the cost of a computer by few more thousands.
We hear every day of our technological prowess and software skills. Can't we use a part of the work force and the corporate infrastructure to serve the interests of Indian people, and develop efficient software to run on low-end machines? Why do we always have to do what the western market wants completely ignoring the domestic imperatives. The huge skilled workforce in organisations like the National Informatics Centre, and the institutions under the Department of Electronics could also be mobilised for the purpose.
In network environment, several alternatives are available. However, in stand - alone mode this could be one way to increase the PC penetration, enhance computer literacy and thereby facilitate the common man (and women) taste the fruits of IT revolution.
I have been advocating this approach for reaching those people who have not been reached so far. Is something is better than nothing, that I started with, clear now?
— Abhijit Lahiri
