# I pit computer equipment designers. This is a lame rant, and they are lame idiots. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 10, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211 "2004-08-10T16:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211/21 "2004-08-11T03:18:28Z")
It’s just so much more convenient and paperless to have the manual right on the computer, which is why I had no idea for six months that my laptop had an IrDA port. Of course it wasn’t on any of the papers describing my laptop, and I had to fuck with the help feature for quite a few minutes to find the lens for it, because it was so cutely and cleverly hidden on the actual laptop itself. Jeebuz, I’m pretty freaking familiar with hardware design and sometimes the goddamned engineers confuse the shit out of me. Now that you mention it, I bet my thinkpad also has that keyboard light thingie. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211/22 "2004-08-11T03:32:11Z")
You know, if the designers just followed the principles of Feng Shui [like these guys](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=270749), you wouldn’t have those problems. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211/23 "2004-08-11T04:01:40Z")
I do wonder when designers are going to make a CD- or DVD-Rom player that has an open/close button that’s not awkwardly positioned underneath the tray, so that you can neither see, nor reach it, without extreme fiddlyness. Just put the buttons above the tray. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211/24 "2004-08-11T04:50:40Z")
From a tech support standpoint, its hard to say whether this would be a good idea or not. Upside: Its easier to reboot the thing. (skip the dam-ned take the cable out, wait for 30 and plug it back in) Downside: User will keep rebooting the thing accidentally. Upside: Particularly stupid users will have to pay for techs more often, who will come out to their house and charge them 80$ to turn the modem around so the its not laying down and forcing the switch in the of position. Downside: Poor techs would have to go through all 67 troubleshooting steps before getting to that point because corporate regulation demand they do every one of them, extensively document it, and get them all done in 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211/25 "2004-08-11T19:02:28Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > Not intuitive, and also not easily learned. For some reason, cost I assume, the thick paper manual has gone the way of the dodo. No longer can we get a new toy and kick back for a couple of hours with the manual to learn the fun features. READ a MANUAL??? What are you…some kinda Radical??? ---
**Author:** ![catsix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211/26 "2004-08-11T19:09:18Z")
> [@](#): > > **GuanoLad** said: > I do wonder when designers are going to make a CD- or DVD-Rom player that has an open/close button that’s not awkwardly positioned underneath the tray, so that you can neither see, nor reach it, without extreme fiddlyness. > > Just put the buttons above the tray. And here we have an example of ‘We’ve always made them this way.’ Sometimes it takes a swift kick in the ass for an engineer’s paradigm to shift that far. > [@](#): > > **smiling bandit** said: > From a tech support standpoint, its hard to say whether this would be a good idea or not. It could be positioned like the button on my DSL router: small, recessed button on the rear of the router that’s actually fairly hard to hit unless you really intend to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-computer-equipment-designers-this-is-a-lame-rant-and-they-are-lame-idiots/259211.md?page=1)