Talk:Strong Bad's Technology

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Current revision as of 08:06, 9 January 2009

I'm not going to demand that this be baleeted, but I always looked at it as just a part of Strong Bad's character, and not deserving of its own article. We'll see if this article gets better later on, who knows? But ususally elements of a character's personality don't get their own article. — Has Matt? (talk) 16:34, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

This could fit in the Strong Bad article easily. A whole page? Eww. Plus the page title is a mess. —FireBird|Talk 16:38, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I second. We should definatly merge this one. — Lapper (talk) 16:39, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Wait a minute. Isn't this already mentioned in Strong Bad's bio? — Has Matt? (talk) 16:47, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Sort of. I really don't think a merge is even necessary, maybe just an extra sentence or two. —FireBird|Talk 16:50, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I think this page has the potential of becoming similar to Making Out. It just needs a lot of cleaning up. And a new name. - Joshua 16:48, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, My title was a little, meh, awakward. TotalSpaceshipGirl3 16:49, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

What other title could we use? Let's see, there's Older Technology, um, Strong Bad's Technology? — Has Matt? (talk) 16:59, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I thought of "Strong Bad's Technology" before you suggested it. I'll use it and see what happens. - Joshua

EDIT CONFLICT:I kanda like Strong Bad's Bad Technology better.-- Bkmlb(talk to me·stuff I did) 17:02, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Although I'm still up for merging. —FireBird|Talk 17:01, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Two "bads" next to each other? Looks kinda weird... — Has Matt? (talk) 17:04, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

I have some nagging problems with some of the assumptions of this page. First of all, when I hear "Strong Bad's Technology" I think of the Light Pens (why do they not have a page?). But moreover, most of the time he seems to show a defiant preference/passion for 80s/90s-technology, as well as the pop culture of said decades in general. He doesn't use these computers because he's unaware that anything better exists; he uses them because he darn well wants to. Making things even more problematic, this attitude can be traced upwards to TBC themselves; thus the Halloween costumes, the Videlectrix phenomenon... etc. The whole site really is an oasis by and for nostalgic 80s-born 20-somethings. And I promise never to use that many hyphens and/or slashes in a post-type thing again. —AbdiViklas 17:46, 22 December 2005 (UTC)

Well, they were born in the mid-70's, but I'll grant that point! Two comments: books on tape are still usually on actual cassettes, not on CDs (though that's starting to happen) so "Things I Said" does not belong here. (The '05 Elantra came standard with a tape deck!) Secondly, in portrait he recognized that in his "rich-guy newspaper" picture he was holding a really old cellphone. Strong Bad is not ignorant of technology. He simply prefers the older stuff, and maybe likes to pretend a little. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  20:08, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, three months after my above comment, I still have a problem with it, and you seem to be agreeing with me, Qermaq. So I'm going to get in there an' mix it up... Only one of the examples on the page, "burning" the DVDs, makes him appear "unaware"; the rest are attributable to stubbornness. —AbdiViklas 20:34, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cassette Tapes

Cassette tapes are NOT outmoded technology. They are still for sale and my new car came standard with a tape deck. Can we agree on this? - Qermaq - (^T/C)  21:52, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

I still use a casette every once and a while. I mean technically, Cds are outmodeled. MP3's are the pretty much "best" music format to most people these days. And, I believe you still can buy MP3's on Cd's, but, nothing's really outdated until it's not sold as a new product. Bluebry 21:55, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Cassettes are out-of-date technology. You can't skip tracks on them, you can ruin them by tearing or magnetizing the tape, and 95% of all new albums are on CD these days.

Well, I guess the bottom line is what's the page meant to document? I mean, I can say some similar things about CDs (they are fragile, you can't send them anywhere without physically carrying them, and besides more and more people download off the Internet to their MP3 players) but I think we agree that such shortcomings aren't what makes them out of date. To me, at least, based on a reading of the opening paragraph of the page, if you can easily go out and buy it new, it's not out of date. 8-tracks are definitely outmoded. 16-color Atari games are definitely outmoded, as are the systems which played them. Even my Super Nintendo is outmoded. (Man, I loved that thing.) You could even say Windows 98 is outmoded. But cassette tapes are still in relatively frequent use, you can buy them in many stores, you can buy blank tapes and record to them on tape decks you can buy - for me, that's not (yet) out of date. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  23:21, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, they aren't standard anymore. Does that help?

Not sure what you're trying to "help" here, but CDs are hardly "standard" anymore either. Heck, the OS your puter's running will not be "standard" in a year, but it won't quite be "out of date" either. I think we need more voices in this discussion to reach any sort of concensus. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  01:23, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Well, if somebody came from the past in a time machine or something and asked "What is the best technology you have", you're not gonna say anything about cassette tapes, are you? You'd say something about CDs or MP3s or something. Salty^Talk! 01:53, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

True. But does that make it "out of date"? Try buying a "book on CD" - they're still generally on tape. There are plenty of applications of cassete tape still extant. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  01:55, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Cassete tapes are absolutely out-of-date. I haven't used/had one since I was about 6. · · T²|_Things

Context. We're talking about a book on tape. Do you really see books on CDs more often than cassete? - Qermaq - (^T/C)  09:16, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes. I do. · · T²|_Things

They don't release albums on tape anymoreRetromaniac 22:07, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

(Indents are getting big) I wonder if people have read my other posts here... My whole point is that yes, there is more modern technology available, they aren't "state of the art" but does that make something outmoded? Another example is VHS. Can you record a TV show or movie on DVD? Sure. But are video rental stores still renting VHS? Of course they are. In the context of this page, we want to document what's outmoded. And as I said earlier, "if you can easily go out and buy it new, it's not out of date." I can go buy cassette tapes today, pre-recorded or blank, and that suggests to me they're not yet outmoded as 8-tracks are. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  15:38, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

VHS tapes were just discontinued. Retromaniac 06:15, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Just? Do you have a date or time on that? - Qermaq - (^T/C)  03:00, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

OK, I agree. VHS and audiotapes are still in sub-mainstream use. I just saw a PBS program offered on VHS and audiocassette. Awexome 19:55, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Made-up technology

The examples from senior prom and haircut seem out of place on this page because he made them up to try to fool someone into believing that he owned an answering machine and a light pen/scanner. I'd like to see what others think before I act boldly and remove them. — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 02:45, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

You're distinguishing between tech that SB fools others into believeing but knows they're not real and tech that SB seems to really believe are real. I don't see that as necessarily excluding these two from this page, but perhaps noting the distinction is in order. - Qermaq - (^T/C)  02:50, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] puppets

where are the other puppet computers? Im a bell 01:28, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I think the only puppet computer is the office one...I didn't know there were more than one...· · T²|_Things 01:41, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

dude... okay, so the Lappy and what i think is the compy have been puppet-fied. Im a bell 00:09, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Where? -Brightstar Shiner 00:11, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

I think he's talking about Strong Bad's office computer in Biz Cas Fri, and the laptop in Real Live E-Mails. —Shwoo 01:11, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Operating System

Aside from the "dir/p" command, how do we know that Strong Bad is using DOS? Granted it is a command line structure, but the classic DOS prompt of "C:\>" is missing. Are we just assuming the default was modified? — User:ACupOfCoffee@ 19:08, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

That is entirely possible. Though I have not achieved status as a DOS priest yet (I'm currently around the status of DOS trainee monk), it is possible to modify that and besides, we only see the prompt for a few straining seconds on the Compy 386 email menu. Chances are TBC didn't do their utmost to adhere to the typical structure of DOS, but the message it returns, "Folder in Drive C:\ has no label" is distinctively DOS. · · T²|_Things 03:23, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Well, yes, it's possible to do all this in MS DOS. The question is whether other operating systems can make it look like this too (PC DOS excluded, as this is basically MS DOS), or even have similar standard commands. And I'm unsure about that. Loafing 03:31, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

This is beginning to get too fact based. If we really REALLY wanted to check this, we'd have to check specific versions of MS DOS sold on Compaq 286 computers (possibly) from certain years (1987 anyone?). Remember that this is an internet cartoon, albeit an often factually correct one. It is possible that this just has DOS roots and nothing more. I have to defend this article, it's the product of a lot of work on my part. · · T²|_Things 03:49, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Inconsistencies

I created an inconsistencies section to note all more modern technologies that Strong Bad strangely is capable of. Awexome Cross 17:20, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] TBC's technology

I'd like to put the following observation in the article, but I'm not sure it would really fit, so I'll put it here instead: TBC's attitute toward technology parallels Strong Bad's. They continue using the outdated Flash version 5 because it still works for them (they even claim in some ways that it's better than the current version). They use old keyboards for their music, and seem to show a preference for older game systems like Atari and the NES over the sleeker, newer available consoles. — It's dot com 23:35, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I agree, they are very much into "old" technology. But unlike Strong Bad, they are not afraid of new technology. Their use of Flash does not fit this pattern, for example. They do use Flash 5 for animation, but then they use a new version of Flash for publishing the toons because of much smaller file sizes. This means that they are up-to-date with current technology and are using the best of both worlds. They also reference many old games in their toons while releasing Wii versions of their games at the same time. I do believe that it's a good idea mentioning TBC's technology in the article, as it certainly has an influence Strong Bad. We shouldn't over-simplify this, though. Loafing 23:45, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

I think the only reason they use the newer version of Flash is because they have to. If the older version still met all the needs of their site, I don't think they would have upgraded. This stands in contrast to people who upgrade simply because an upgrade is there. — It's dot com 00:26, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Telephone

I don't think the description of the phone that Strong Bad uses is "outdated". We still use a corded phone in case of a power outage. If he was using a dial telephone, sure. But any touchtone phone, regardless of design, is not out of date. Awexome 04:13, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

in power outages... fine. But i rarely see those anymore, and in fact, it's very hard to even find such a thing in stores these days. — Defender1031*Talk 06:49, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Plus, the specific style of phone is outdated. The curvy, shiny plastic type. Most phones are more streamlined, even when corded. They generally have only one bulging end (the ear end), if any at all. Strong Bad's is the kind where the buttons were built into the base, and didn't have things like "caller ID" or "redial" built in. Most phones now have the buttons built into the receiver. --DorianGray 07:17, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

Oh. So he has a seventies phone. No caller ID. No redial. No speed dial. Fine. Let's rephrase it then. Awexome 18:19, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

I found this. http://www.amazon.com/Corded-29369GE1-Button-Waiting-Speakerphone/dp/B00079VIFU/ref=pd_bbs_5/002-0101644-3612034?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192731904&sr=8-5 Awexome 18:25, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

For the inconsistencies, couldn't SB just have 2 phone lines? When my family had dial-up (like in the millionzoic era), we had 2 seperate phone numbers, so we could be on the Internet and the phone at the same time. AwkwardFire 13:51, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Other Characters

Should we add videos like Limozeen Live! Promo and Workin' on the Game where other characters associate 1970s-80s electronics with the latest technology? Bad Bad Guy 22:38, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

I just realized that strongbademail.exe itself isn't listed under Software. Should it be? Octan 03:43, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 50 emails

I don't think telegramaphone actually is an instance,remember,in 1930 there was no computers.