> The tiny plugs/sockets that are used inside laptops and mobile phones 
> etc often have a designed lifetime of just *ONE* operation!  It means 
> everything can be made much smaller and thinner and hence cheaper, but 
> of course you wouldn't use one of these if you were expecting to 
> actually use the plug regularly.

I think my grandparents have used up the one connection on their mobile 
phone. It is simply no longer possible to get a reliable USB connection. 
You have to try about 8 or 9 times. The connector is just useless...

>> I'm just wondering whether they actually did anything different at all 
>> for the extra money, that's all.
> 
> Well they must have done if they are guaranteeing it for critical use.  
> If they didn't they risk being in a lot of trouble when things do fail 
> (or maybe there is even some law that is relevant, I don't know).  Are 
> they ISO 9000 accredited?

That's the thing. I don't *think* the company in question is actually 
guaranteeing it will work. They're just charging lots of money. We're 
the ones who do all the calibration checking and so forth.

>> [Seriously - WTF does a mass spectrometer even have in it? It's just 
>> an empty tube, some vacuum pumps, an electrode and some magnets. So is 
>> my TV! Well, apart from the vacuum pumps anyway... And yet, my TV 
>> doesn't cost more than a small housing estate. Wuh??]
> 
> How many TVs do you think have been made in total?  How many mass 
> spectrometers?

If you were asking "particle accelerators", it would be a different 
story. ;-) Mass spectrometers are fairly rare, but not all that rare. 
Although obviously rarer than TVs.

> What do you think is the tolerance on TVs?  Would you care if the green 
> on the UK weather map looks a slightly different shade to your neighbour?

That might have something to do with it...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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