I have always built my own computers. So I don’t consider myself a techno-phobe. Yet, one of the reasons I do is so that I can pare down the unnecessary software that the pre-built jobs come with. My machines boot (uh, turn on) much faster and run better without all the garbage running in the background.
I agree with Dr. Sowell’s point. Very often I want *fewer* features, not more. It’s a shame I can’t get that much of the time.
It’s not that you want fewer features. It’s that you want features that are actually useful and that serve your interests rather than those of the computer company and whoever slipped them a couple bucks. I think they should be ashamed of themselves that after taking money from a customer, they don’t feel obliged to work in only his interests. Fiduciary freakin DUTY and all that. Oh well.