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That and similar experiences as an ordinary reader led me, eventually, to two conclusions. The first is that a lot of comment is based on a sort of received wisdom, a common currency, that appears to be picked up from the atmosphere. It certainly isn't based on reality. The second is that almost no journalists, and no geeks, have ever come across the concept of "the whole product", though it is well known to marketing people. Real people may not be aware of it, but the "whole product" model is an accurate description of the way they buy things.
Let's take a simple example: digital audio tape (DAT). Get someone to compare DAT with a humble C90 compact cassette and they will find DAT to be technologically superior, especially for recording music. However, if you consider "the whole product", DAT is vastly inferior for most people most of the time. This is why people still buy millions of cassettes, while DAT has virtually disappeared from consumer use.
The point is that when someone buys and uses a product, the technological aspects are a small and often uninteresting part of the decision. When you choose compact cassette, you are also buying into a vast infrastructure of capabilities, services and support. These include the availability of cheap cassettes on every high street, cheap personal stereos, and the ability to use the same format for a wide range of applications (personal stereo, portable radio/cassette players, in the car, in your hi-fi stack).
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