People love convenience more than technology.

People love Wireless Keyboards at first. They think it is so cool to not have a cord and to have an uncluttered desktop. Things go great until it comes time to change the batteries. Then the problems start.

People don’t like to have to replace batteries. Even if they last a few months, they find this annoying. It also happens that Wireless keyboards seem to be built cheaper than traditional keyboards. So most of the wireless keyboards that people seem to use break. This increases costs of course, for no real payback.

I am not against wireless keyboards or mice. I find them personally more style than substance. Sure it looks nice, but they add more complications than the traditional corded keyboards and mice. Almost all of the traditional keyboards and mice I have worked with just work. I never really have to go back for issues. However if I give a person a wireless keyboard or mouse, generally they will eventually have some sort of issue.

You may say, “Well I’ve never had an issue with my wireless keyboard or mouse.” Its true you have probably not have had an issue. However imagine supporting a staff of 500 or 10,000? Then those costs can be substantial. I like things that work. I don’t mind spending more money if they are more reliable. For me, wireless devices are not there yet. I think part of this is that the traditional keyboard makers are decreasing quality and thats why these devices are having issues.

Lets go back to the keyboard example. I used to love Logitech keyboards and mice. They were my favorite kind of keyboard because they were more reliable than the alternatives. However over the years in my opinion, Logitech started to cut corners and make them cheaper and less reliable. So I had to start going to other brands. As the demand for wireless keyboards and mice increased, they produced things that were cheap but almost guaranteed to fail. To me, this isn’t a value. If you have to repurchase something, its better and cheaper to just spend more money initially for a quality product.

Technology should support people and be in the background, and people love it when things are reliable. Many times people who have wireless keyboard and mice say to me “You know I don’t like changing the batteries can I have my regular keyboard back?” Of course I say yes. Whatever makes people happy. Therefore I have to conclude that people love convenience more than than technology.

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