IDEA THIRTY-SIX: Early Adapting does not equal Evolution

Hipsters, pundits, marketing gurus, knowledge workers and all other brands of pseudo geeks need to take a page from the book of the ferreal geeks of the world: the Sys Admins. Forget the cowboys who actually design networks, I’m referring to those nervous nellies whose job it is to take care of the bloody thing in part by trying to keep your machine locked down to prevent power users from “moving too quickly” to the latest version of Windows, Office or even freaking iTunes. In light of the Apple iPod price slash this week, it turns out the TRUE geeks of the world know something after all: early adapting sux. Just because the new shiny toy promises great things that will change your life and make it better in a million trillion ways doesn’t mean that it actually WORKS. Patience is a virtue in the “real world”—why throw caution to the wind online and dunk millions into the fledgling Second Life platform before it’s had a chance to iron out its many kinks? Why rush to be one of the first to have an iPhone when it means paying 600 bucks for a pretty brick—only to have that same piece of gorgeousness come down dramatically in price just a few weeks later? Why get your panties in a wad about installing the “cool looking” Vista when it’s full of bugs and a pain in the ass to use?

Sometimes it pays to be thankful for what you’ve got. Here's a hot new item that should be on everyone's "must have" list: a computer that actually WORKS.