Comments on: Case study: Optimum Lifetime Products

By: A bright idea? at fulminate // Architectures of Control

A bright idea? at fulminate // Architectures of Control — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 07:51:25 +0000

[...] Overall, this is a clever commercial attempt to respond to a governmental decision made with environmental protection in mind, and as such probably ought to be filed along with optimum lifetime products as something where the intention is to benefit society as well as benefit the manufacturer, at the expense of additionally inconveniencing the user. I feel focusing on a system of built-in base units, with readily available standard replacement tubes (either CFLs or linear fluorescent format) would have been more user-friendly as well as reducing the amount of electronics needlessly thrown away, but it would not have permitted a razor-blade model to the same extent. [...]

By: Architectures of Control in Design » Some interesting aspects of built-in obsolescence

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:26:24 +0000

[...] See also Feature deletion for environmental reasons and Case study: Optimum Lifetime Products. Please share this!These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

By: Architectures of Control in Design » Feature deletion for environmental reasons

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 10:48:09 +0000

[...] See also Case study: Optimum lifetime products. Please share this!These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]

By: Architectures of Control in Design » Forcing functions designed to increase product consumption

Sun, 09 Jul 2006 19:19:04 +0000

[...] Finally, it’s worth considering that the concept of planned obsolescence (or built-in obsolescence) has a good deal in common with ‘excessive consumption’ forcing functions, especially when products ‘expire’ on a certain date or after a certain amount of time. Sometimes the expiry is merely the date printed on the packaging, which is enough to make consumers throw away food or medicines which may still be usable, but in other cases a technological measure is used to expire the items – whether they’re ink cartridges, eBooks, DVDs, ringtones or data across a network. Again, designed-in-obsolescence also has the possibility to be used for more socially beneficial reasons, as I suggested in Optimum Lifetime Products, though as far as I know there are no real-life examples of this at present. [...]

By: Architectures of Control in Design » Architectures of control that actually endanger life

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 23:22:38 +0000

[...] ‘Optimum lifetime products’ could also endanger lives if they shut down or cease to function at a moment when they are needed. Of course, this would need to be considered when designing them – much as modern electricity meters have a ‘reserve’ feature to stop the power cutting out at a dangerous time – but even looking at the wider picture (deliberate built-in obsolescence), life could still be endangered. If a family can’t afford to buy a replacement fridge when the original reaches its ‘optimum environmental lifetime’ and switches itself off permanently, then that may affect the family’s health. [...]

By: Architectures of Control in Design » Architectures of Control in ‘Engineering Designer’ magazine

Wed, 15 Mar 2006 17:11:38 +0000

[...] [1] The term ‘architectures of control’ was popularised by Lawrence Lessig, founder of Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet & Society—with specific reference to the way that the architecture of the Internet regulates how it can be used—in his Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Basic Books, New York, 1999 [2] See, e.g. ‘Sony’s long-term rootkit woes,’ BBC News website, 21.11.2005, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4456970.stm [3] Anderson, R., ‘Trusted’ Computing Frequently Asked Questions, http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html [4] See, e.g. ‘A lump of coal for consumers: analog hole bill introduced,’ Electronic Frontier Foundation, 16.12.2005, http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004261.php [5] Norman, D. The Design of Everyday Things, Basic Books, New York, 2002, pp.132-140 [6] I am grateful to Steve Portigal (http://www.portigal.com ) for this example. [7] ‘Recycled Plastic Georgetown Bench,’ Belson Outdoors, Inc., http://www.belson.com/gbrec.htm [8] See ‘Case study: Optimum Lifetime Products,’ http://architectures.danlockton.co.uk/?page_id=19 [9] See http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com [...]