Lauren the Ghoti says:

Vizio? As Hobson said to Arthur, “No, thank you.” I know I’m one of those insufferable equipment snobs, but Jeez-O-Flip, this is just more lowballing on price to the rabble, who are sufficiently dim to assume “big screen = good.”

And John C, for the love of Gawd, think of the children! I MEAN – a frigging Westinghouse?? Builders of the worlds worst nuclear reactors, don’t think for a minute their corporate aversion to superfluous cost centers such as QA doesn’t extend down their product line…

I’d have to consider committing seppuku if I ever advised even an enemy of mine to go near a Westinghouse product with a dungfork…

• • • • • • •

Michael Dell? It ain’t a tech-industry thing he’s caught up it, it’s Texas-style Bidniss-As-Usual, which is to say, underhanded. To be polite about it.

Lauren the Ghoti says:

No, ECA, but they make the decisions about who makes what and how much they’re willing to pay to ensure it’s done right… You get what you pay for, and the same goes for companies who stick their name on stuff they buy from others.

It’s a company with a poor rep in many areas, who once sold quality goods, but long ago learned from their #1 competitor GE how profitable it can be to cut corners. There’s a very good reason why the brand has taken so long to be revived in America, because until recently there were still too many people around for whom their name was a dirty word.

Call it general principles, but I’m old enough to remember when the name Westinghouse came to signify cheesy crap and old-guard corporations like that seldom find it easy to change their spots… I despise electronics that break and by avoiding such outfits’ products, I have rarely had to fix my own stuff, which i really hate doing.

Nope. A Sharp or Panasonic doesn’t cost that much more and experience has taught me that the difference is money well spent.

Lauren the Ghoti says:

Well, John C, sometimes I worry about me too —

No, I didn’t mean to convey the idea that the people who construct reactor vessels moonlight at the TV plant… but the umbrella corporation, the leadership at the very top, the arbiters of corporate policy and culture, has always and infamously been a passel of crooks.