Who would've thunk?
The last time I got my tires changed was back in, umm, well, I can't remember. I remember going to a store (WalMart), and telling the guy I needed new tires, and about an hour and 45 minutes later, bang, I had new tires. I didn't know how big they were, what their speed rating was, what the tread life was going to be, or whether I needed the extra road-warranty inusrance thingie, or whether or not I wanted to dispose of my old tires myself or wanted them to be disposed at an extra $6.50 per tire, or what the installation fee per tire was going to be, or if I had to gently pat my tire-mechanic's head as he'd be doing the job... I had a 1990 Accord LX back in school, and I wanted things cheap.
About 6 months ago, a friend of mine noticed that my car’s tires were going bald. I said, “huh, thats interesting”and kept driving. For 6 months. Yesterday, I woke up and was getting ready to go to the post office when I noticed there was something odd about my front tires. I took a closer look :
So, I decided I needed to get some new tires. Granted, I had in fact learned a thing or two about tires in chatting with my psychotic friends who race and stuff. The prudent thing to do, before heading off to a tire store, would be to research tires online first, right? I’m not kidding when I tell you I got a serious headache in trying to decide which tires to go with. I have an all-wheel drive car, and the reason I got one was because I liked going snowboarding up to the mountains*. So, performance summer tires weren’t going to cut it, because they wouldn’t make it in the snow. How about those ultra high-performance all-season tires which automatically inflate themselves if they go flat, and also shoot rubber bullets when you’re surrounded by Elektra King’s men? Reviews on tirerack.com say, nope, “I’ve found that with these tires my car hydroplanes”. About 2 hours later, I said, “screw this, I’m going to the post office”. The post office is about 6 minutes away. And I’ve never been more scared of something happening to my car in those 12 minutes. “What if my tires burst right now?” “What if my tires burst right now?” “How about now?” “And what if they bursttttttttttttttttt, now?”
After that petrifying drive, it hit me – the answer was not to get new tires. It was to get a new car… That’s right. A new car…
Its interesting how the human mind works – ok fine, its interesting how my mind works.
AI
PS: Yes, I got new tires yesterday. I got the Dunlop SP Sport FM901s. And, PLEASE, don’t tell me what you think of them, because I want to ignorantly live my life in bliss not knowing how these tires are going to perform, or howmuch more road noise I’m going to hear, or how it handles when you make that 90 degree turn off your on-ramp.
PPS: I came very close to selling my car yesterday.
* – FYI : since I’ve bought my car, I haven’t been snowboarding once. I live in the North-West parts of California (San Francisco) and it snows here once every 74637 years. It rains here plenty, but its no Seattle. So did I ever need an AWD? I dunno…
Comments
Anonymous
August 27, 2005
I am not a car person either but I think this story is useful..
Exchange car with computer and you are in the average user's shoes. Ignorance truly is bliss and that is what a lot of them want. When something goes wrong, they don't really want to have to worry about the details and if they do, they probably would prefer to just buy a new computer. They probably do know more than the average tech geek about tires though..
We need to build software with this in mind. For us software is the world but for others it is just like AI's car. They don't want to think about.
On the flip side, people tend to value things more when they are made to think about them. A car that goes place to place with no problems easily becomes background noise. Of course, having a computer crash is not exactly good noise.
How do we make people think about computers? First, people have to want to think about computers. Dealing with the industry needs to have a human rather than a mechanical feel. It needs to be about work and play. It needs to be about how we use the computer socially. It needs to be about the experiences we have when we have a problem. We need to put a human face on the computer and make it exciting not technical.
People need to feel like they are part of the tech community. If they need help, they should be able to talk to someone who sounds like them. If they have a problem with software, they should hear what people are doing to improve it and make their lives better. Let's make noise, good noise and lets learn to speak user.
Shaun Bedingfield
shaunbed@swbell.net
blogsb.blogspot.com
The Art of Software Development Made FleshAnonymous
August 27, 2005
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September 01, 2005
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September 02, 2005
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September 07, 2005
Its not soo much the AWD 'Security' issue.. If I wanted security I would buy a volvo. ;) But, you mentioned steering... Yes the front wheels are doing double the work, but the rear wheels are working as well.. Steering an AWD vehicle is a lot stiffer than any other. Tell me this.. lets say ur driving and u lose control... do you think it would be easier to recover from a FWD vehicle, RWD Vehicle or AWD? With AWD all tires are putting power to the ground.. the chances of you fish tailing... hmm very low.. If ur car starts skidding sideways, ALL tires having traction will greatly reduce the chance of you losing it or the rear sliding out from under you.. I wonder why Rally cars use AWD vehicles rather than RWD or FWD.... =) I have an audi and am a WRX and EVO fan. =)
Once again, at work and forgot to elaborate last time.. ill be back to discuss. =)Anonymous
September 10, 2005
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September 12, 2005
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September 18, 2005
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