"...freedom from the tyranny of overlighting"?! Idiot.
This is quite possibly the most asinine technology article I think I've ever read.Mike Elgan, the author of this useless rant, kinda reminds of of
Ol' Jerry Taylor from Tuttle, OK... I mean... Is this guy serious?!
Firstly, while decorative lights are irritating, most lights on techno-gear for adults are NOT superfluous. They serve a diagnostic function and, more often than not, can save precious minutes (or hours) in troubleshooting a problem.
Secondly, If you have a switch, or router (or similar device) you should be interested in whether or not it's working. The indication of whether it's working comes in the form of blinkenlights. Would you prefer a sound? How about a smell? If you're not interested in whether it's working, you should discard it. Blinkenlights are the simplest, cheapest and most effective way to indicate changes of state and steady conditions. I suppose manufacturers could put a big "ON/OFF/MOMENTARY-ON" toggle switch tied to the ground bus for all the LEDs... that way you could have them on all the time, off all the time, or on only to check things. Short of this (and bear in mind that the switch will add a few bucks to each device, as well as one more thing to break), cope.
Thirdly, it's people like this dude who demand more bloat from hardware and software manufacturers. You could have something simple and ugly that works constantly for 25 years, or your could have something pretty and fragile that might last through the waranty period. For every dimmer circuit or extra bit of firmware to change the behavior of the lights your adding a place where something could be screwed up.
The bottom line is this: If you don't like blinkenlights in your bedroom don't put any there. I fail to comprehend why this idea escapes a the grasp of someone like Mr. Elgan.
