Being Practical About Technology: Just Saying No

Posted on November 12, 2007 by Bruce Keener

It is so easy to spend money on extra gadgetry and technology, when the practical thing to do is to just keep what you have. I fell for the trap of going for extra technology this weekend. I was able to correct my mistake, but I want to talk about the experience to help drive home how easy it is for any of us to get sucked into paying for something that we do not really need. I’ll also add in a couple of other experiences, including one where I stayed practical and did not get sucked in.

This past weekend I decided to go the route of setting up a hosted exchange. My purpose in doing so: to keep my iMac, Windows systems, BlackBerry, and Pocket PC all in sync, effortlessly. I’ve seen a lot of articles on the web talk about how great it is, and my friend Thomas Hall has told me how well it works for him and how nice it is to not have to worry about manually syncing.

So, Saturday evening I went with an exchange service that Thomas recommended. Setup of my Outlook 2003 was easy, and I also had the option of downloading a free copy of Outlook 2007 (I did not follow through on that). Within a few minutes my hosted exchange was working perfectly with Outlook.

Next, I went to Entourage on my iMac. Setting it up took a little more effort, but when all was said and done it worked OK except that the Tasks did not sync to Entourage. I tried resolving the issue for a while, got tired and went to bed thinking a clear solution would come to me on Sunday. Well, the solution did not come to me, but I decided on Sunday to go ahead and try to get my BlackBerry synced with all of this.

Now comes the rub. Adding the BlackBerry to the equation added a little bit of cost (less than $10/month) to the hosted exchange, but I learned that I had to have BES capability on my BlackBerry (BlackBerry Enterprise Service) to get it to work with the hosted exchange. Whoa! I went with BIS when I signed up with AT&T, because it was only $20/month, whereas BES is nearly $50/month. So I started up a conversation with the hosted exchange folks and they told me I can probably get AT&T to set up BES capability for me without charging for their BES, because I would be getting the BES through the hosted exchange. And I am thinking, hum, sure …

Then practicality finally set in. I asked myself if doing this was really worth $20/month hosted exchange fees plus, possibly, another $30/month for BES (some additional charge likely, even if not the full $30). The answer was a resounding NO. I am retired for Christ’s sake. What do I need with this stuff anyway? If I were working full time again and doing a lot of travel, perhaps it would be worthwhile. But, it sure is not practical for me now.

So, I canceled out of the hosted exchange program. Fortunately trying it out did not cost me any money, but it cost my time, including time having to set Outlook back up the way it was before I set it up for hosted exchange. All in all, the cost was about three hours, maybe four. I could have spent it better.

Another piece of technology that sucked me into spending more money: the BlackBerry. I am not really regretting the decision to get one. I have owned it now for about three months and have not had to reset it once. I can’t say that about any other device that I have ever owned (except my iMac). But, the truth is I really did not need it. My T-Mobile Dash was working just fine, and it only cost me $99 (I got a special deal as a developer), whereas the Curve cost $349 plus about $20/month for BIS. Was this a smart thing for a retired guy to do? No, not really. Of course, money is no good if you don’t spend it, as they say. But, how you spend it matters. That is whether you are retired or working or rich or poor. Would Warren Buffet have gone from a Dash to a BlackBerry, given the cost. My hunch is no. (More on Warren Buffet in another article on another day: turns out he does not use a cell phone.)

The damnedest part of it is that I will probably get an iPhone when the second generation ones come out. Not at all practical, for sure. Maybe this article will talk me out of it.

My final regret on this stuff: I have owned at least 20 handheld devices (Pocket PCs and Palms), sometimes buying three or four of them a year. I could afford it. But, it was good money wasted. I wish now I had not done it. And the fact is the most expensive Pocket PCs did not make me one bit more productive than the least expensive Palms.

I have made some smart decisions about gadgets, though. For example, when I realized that my iPAQ 4700 was just setting around gathering dust, I sold it to a friend who is making good use of it. And, despite my temptation to get a new HP Pocket PC, I will instead just hold onto my Dell x51v: it does all I need a Pocket PC to do, and the new ones do not really add anything to justify me spending money on them.

Got any “wish I hadn’t spent the money on this” stories? Any advice for tech junkies like me? I have always been known for my practicality, but I am only now learning how to rightly “say no” to new, un-needed technology.

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  • mike moore

    I had a 4705 and loved it but it had a hardware issue and I had purchased an extended warranty from CompUSA when I bought it (I never buy these contracts). That allowed me to replace it for $99 but 4705′s were no longer available so I settled for an hx2795b. I miss two things from the 4705, the VGA screen and the 4 inch screen (like the extra 0.5 inch is really that important).

    Then I heard about the new HP 212 (or whatever number it is) and it looks like the 4705, has VGA and a 4 inch screen. It’s easy to say at the moment that I don’t “need” it because they don’t sell it yet, BUT I know when they do I’ll start to shake and shiver and dream up reasons why I have to have it.

    I’m also getting much more used to using my Motorola Q which has taken awhile because of its no-touch screen. But I now use it more than the 2795 and it’s so easy to be “connected” all the time as opposed to the Pocket PC wi-fi only. But to get back to your story, I went out and purchased the Smartphone version of just about every program on the 2795….for what??? But, I still love it and cannot stop!!!!

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce

    You sound like me, Mike. You’d think we’d learn eventually :) Me especially: at 58 years old, you’d think I’d learn to slow down on what I don’t need. I am trying, but gosh it is hard in today’s mindset where we view everything as disposable.

    If you do break down and get the HP 212 (excuse me, when you break down and get it :) ) let us know about it. I’m going to try hard to resist, though.

  • Thomas R. Hall

    Excellent post, Bruce. Sorry that the hosted Exchange experience wasn’t exactly what you expected. I think your post brings up very valid points, and I think that us gadget freaks forget sometimes about how much we spend and how lucky we are. I had several thoughts after reading this article, but I think I’ll just touch on two main points.

    Sometimes, upgrades aren’t always better. Some features get removed or things work differently. Older Palms used to run for weeks at a time, but most PDAs today need to be charged every couple of days. Vista seems less stable and takes more resources on the same hardware than ran XP without issue. It comes down to “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

    Also, technology is supposed to help us and not enslave us. Having so many gadgets to keep in sync on so many different platforms causes us to have to look for innovative solutions for keeping everything synced. This definitely makes me think about the choices I have made and what is necessary. Older Palms were very stable and had the bulk of the features I needed. Maybe it’s time to look at getting back to the basics.

    That may be difficult, given my gadget addiction, though. :)

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce

    @Thomas, thank you for the very insightful comments. You are so right on both of them.

    Regarding your mentioning of Palm, I took my Palm TX of its storage box last night, and set it back up again, syncing everything in Outlook to it. I had forgotten how incredibly easy they are to use. I have used the TX productively several times today. Interesting thing to think about, as we are both gadget addicts: the most productive times of my life were when (1) I used a paper planner, (2) I used a Palm to implement either Covey or GTD (or, later, a combo of the two), and (3) I used a combo of paper and a Palm. Getting back to the basics really can pay off. I have another article drafted that goes further into that subject. I will probably tweak it tomorrow and publish it then, or on Wednesday if I am not happy with my Tuesday’s tweaking.

  • Thomas R. Hall

    Agreed, Bruce. I have a TX that I’m going to dust off as well to see how the experience suits me now. I was displeased with it because the browsing experience wasn’t very good, but that’s not what I would use it for primarily anyway. It’s the PIM features that are great.

    Looking forward to your next article that you mention.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce

    By the way, I am glad I dusted off the Palm … it really is a great interface. But, I am back to using my Dell x51v, a great device with a great operating system.

  • Kelvin

    Thank you for the article. I thought I was the only one who felt that the current trend wasn’t working for me.

    Frankly, I don’t need the latest and greatest anymore. I was seriously addicted and had both a hardware AND a software “fetish” where I’ve spent at least $500 for 3rd party software for a processor I don’t even use anymore… in the last 24 months. Yikes!

    Also, it was embarrassing to be in front of a client and having to wait 5 minutes for a tricked out phone (that impressed the heck out of friends) to finish waking up when all I needed to do was update a phone number, schedule an appointment, or create a task.

    I realized that all I really needed was 1). a PDA… check; and 2). a phone… check. I’m using a PPC 6700 and I can’t wait to actually read your ebook and see what I can implement from it.

    Thanks again for the confirmation and validation.

  • http://www.keenerliving.com/ Bruce

    Thank you, Kelvin. You bring out a good point that it’s not just the device costs that factor into this, but the software, too, often all for naught.

    Good luck to you. Let us know how things change for you as you try to get some real value out of your 6700.