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Re: Anticipating the future
I have to agree with Judy and disagree with Dan on this one: the trend
is toward sloppier, stupider computers rather than the other way around.
Fifteen years ago I did all the statistical work for a large school
district on a Mac SE with *1MB RAM* and 20MB hard disk, and to
facilitate writing reports I kept Excel (containing large databases),
Statistica, Word, and Cricket Graph all open on my desktop at the same
time with no drag on the memory. Software has gotten sloppier and
sloppier until now you can hardly run the operating system with less
than 16MB of RAM. My brother, who is the systems manager for a public
utility and keeps his networks at the cutting edge, says he won't be
implementing Windows 2000 because even very recent machines would have
to replaced with something more powerful in order to run it with any
efficiency. I still write with Word 5.1 because Word 6 and all
succeeding releases of Word have been ridiculous in terms of disk space
and RAM eaten up, with absolutely nothing added that's useful to me.
I'm not one of those-- what do they call them-- "early adopters" who
like to get the newest and hottest thing. I like to find something I
like and use it until it wears out. I don't buy new clothes every year
or even every decade; I've only had three cars in my life (and I drive a
lot; my 1988 Honda has nearly 200,000 miles on it) and I prefer
furniture with...character over something new from the store. But I've
been forced to buy three new computer systems in the last ten years, and
I am not happy about it.
I do not believe that the Bill Gates of this world intend to kill this
cash cow any time soon by giving us a Frigidaire or Westingpoint that we
can use happily for 20 or 40 years. Yes, the Mac gives us that
reliability, but unfortunately it's not usually the hardware that's the
problem, rather it's incompatibility of software and peripherals that
force one to upgrade even when the machine itself is perfectly good.
And it's always something. Last week I called my computer catalog store
to order new cartridges for my peripheral magneto-optical drive. Guess
what-- they don't make that size cartridge any more. The drive is 5
years old so it should have been replaced by now, seems to be the
reasoning. At any rate, now I'm stuck with my hard drive filling up with
images and no place to put them, and soon I will have to break down and
not only buy a new peripheral drive, but spend a few days moving all the
images off the MO cartridges and onto something else. And no, I can't
just keep the MO drive active along with something else because there
are only so many places on a SCSI chain and I've already got them all
filled.
I don't think, Dan, that it's going to get any better. I'm inclined to
think that the folks who want to build film from scratch might have the
better idea.
Katharine Thayer
FDanB@aol.com wrote:
>
> Judy said:
>
> >Consider the possibility that THIS is the golden
> >age of computer equipment.
> >Which is to say, "mature" computers will, I promise, be junkier than now,
> >the softwear sloppier, the "manuals" dumber, and tech support will be 12
> >year-olds who know less than you do (well that's now, but even worse).
> >Also, they will be so full of useless features, ie., sales gimmicks, they
> >will be actually harder to use.
>
> Hi Judy,
>
> I couldn't disagree more. In just 15 years I've seen my own desktop grow
> from the original 128 Mac (with no hard drive) to machines that
> communicate
FDanB@aol.com wrote:
>
> Judy said:
>
> >Consider the possibility that THIS is the golden
> >age of computer equipment.
> >Which is to say, "mature" computers will, I promise, be junkier than now,
> >the softwear sloppier, the "manuals" dumber, and tech support will be 12
> >year-olds who know less than you do (well that's now, but even worse).
> >Also, they will be so full of useless features, ie., sales gimmicks, they
> >will be actually harder to use.
>
> Hi Judy,
>
> I couldn't disagree more. In just 15 years I've seen my own desktop grow
> from the original 128 Mac (with no hard drive) to machines that
> communicate with the world, print my postage, edit my photographs, manage
> my finances (not a big job unfortunately), let me publish books, make my
> negatives, etc. Part of the "problem" with today's computers is that
> we're assigning to them so many more tasks than we could have even
> IMAGINED just a few years ago.
>
> It's easy to understand the fear that "the industry" will try to maintain
> the current momentum of change, upgrades and obsolescence that plagues
> our digital lives. But there is nothing "golden" about this age of
> computers...except the income figures of some of the giants behind the
> mess. But time and progress will take care of that; history is too rich
> with examples to believe the status quo will prevail. Maybe a better
> product comparison (better than refrigerators anyway, since you seem to
> have a way with them, though it's hard to imagine you really MISS
> defrosting with pans of hot water and an ice pick) would be the
> automobile. (Now please don't launch into some stereotypical New Yorker
> rant about not needing or liking cars. Ha!) Ever notice how few cars you
> see broken down along the road compared to 20 years ago? It's because
> this is another product that's near maturity. On the down side, the
> romanticism of the auto has diminished. As a youth, I'd wait anxiously
> for the new models each fall, eager to first spy the taller fin or new
> retractable hard-top. Kids today don't share that same anticipation for
> the wind-tunnel designed clones that all ride and perform superbly, but
> similarly. You just watch: computers will take the same path.
>
> While writing this, my wife, Jill, is making Bromoils that she contact
> printed from desktop digital negatives (using Epson Glossy Film)! She's
> thrilled to find a way to use "flawed" (but wonderful) negatives to make
> prints that finally capture the mood and tones she always envisioned for
> her images. This certainly isn't to say that if the Mac hiccoughs and
> says it can't see the printer that there isn't an element of frustration.
> But heck, going into the darkroom to find your Dektol looking like
> day-old coffee isn't a thrill either!
>
> To suggest that computers will be more hassle in the future is something
> I wouldn't have anticipated coming from you Judy, You're usually so on
> target with your observations. :-)
>
> Dan
>
> www.danburkholder.com