I recently finished a book on Native American cultures West of the Mississippi. The author, toward the end of the book, after describing the native american perception (or non-perception) of real estate as property, suggested that the single best description of non-Native American americans to give to an alien race would be "real estate agents."

>>>>>But in a way apple isn't about hardware or software. Its about branding. The model they are using has been extremely successful I can and proving they can keep coming up with new products why should they. My daughter could sell her G4 ibook online today for what she paid second hand for it 4 years ago. My similar age Acer laptop would make a nice doorstop. To me that shows the value of the brand.
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>>>>Ah - yes and therein lies the fallacy of all things Apple. A 4 year old machine, whether apple or not should make a nice doorstop :-)
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>>>>Perceived value != Real value
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>>>real value is what you can sell it for.
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>>Isn't the real value of a computer system be measured by the degree of usage you'd get out of it?
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>That's unAmerican to say. Usability be damned, my house is worth as much as I can sell it, even if I don't mean to.
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>In my US years, I've seen so many things people do, or would like to but then don't, because of the expected influence on the resale value. Even on things they intend to keep forever, or play with for a while and discard. It's ingrained. Don't paint anything in lively colors, you won't be able to sell it. Don't arrange the kitchen the way you like it, it will diminish the value of the house.
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>The famous lemma should say "anything that's worth enjoying is either fattening, forbidden, or affects your insurance rate or the value of your inventory".
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>p.s. my desktop box has flowers painted on its sides.