You did word processing on an abacus?
-- Service to my country? Been there, Done that, and I\'ve got my DD214 to prove it. Member of DAV #85. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida
Babbage didn't understand my idea that numbers could stand for letters too. Chuck was a sort of single minded guy that way. We lost our funding because it turned out that that mousy girl he was boffing was the Earl of something's daughter. Oh well.
This means you have to look later than the abacus. Perhaps you were thinking of the comptometer.
Sure, but there weren't that many words back then either.
-- Keith
That was Ada Lovelace, or more correctly, The Right Honorable Augusta Ada, Countess of Lovelace. She was married to Lord Byron, the first Earl of Lovelace. Babbage's attempt to erect his Analytical Engine is the origin of the terms "hardware", "firmware" and "software".
I guess hardware design and programming were more fun in those days.
Perhaps a Scrabble game or Ouija board?
However, the growth of computing does seem to be causing problems. In
1983, my first IBM PC took about 3 minutes to boot PCDOS 1.1 from floppy. 25 years later, my current incantation takes about the same time to boot Windoze. In 1983, EasyWriter declared my spelling to be atrocious. Today, OpenOffice does the same. This is not progress.-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Hmm, my ThinkPad takes about 15 minutes. In some ways it is progress (enough time to fetch a cup of coffee ;-).
...and that's Moore's fault? ;-)
-- Keith
I actually time how long it takes to boot. I have a customer with a Thinkpad A31 that takes about 9 minutes to boot XP. That's until the hard disk stops thrashing around and the machine is ready to use. I've never seen on take 15 minutes, but I believe it's possible.
On the other end of the scale, I recently bought a Dell Optiplex 755 (2.6GHz Intel Core2Duo, 1333Mhz FSB, 2GB DDR-2, SATA II drive) that takes only 70 seconds to boot. That's with the usual assortment of virus and spyware scanners, plus all the programs that check for updates on startup. I want one.
I haven't bothered to benchmark Vista. I would be seriously depressed if I did, and might do something drastic, like try to switch my customers to Linux.
Well, Gordon Moore was one of the founders of Intel. However, it's not a hardware problem. The problem is that for every advance in performance in hardware, there is an equal and opposite reduction in performance in software. The net result are very tiny improvements in overall performance at best. At worst (i.e. Vista), it's a giant step backwards in overall performance.
If you were to measure actual productivity (i.e. write and print a letter, read/write email, or create a simple spreadsheet), I suspect the overall productivity of the latest greatest would be fairly dismal. Sure, you can do more with today's computers, but the basic functions for which businesses pay people to perform, have deteriorated in productivity. For example, I suspect I spend as much time installing updates, patches, and security fixes, as I do actually using the computah.
The automobile analogy sorta works. You can do more with a latest greatest in accessories, such as GPS maps, hi-fi, hands free cellular, multiple safety features, and such. However, if your basic purpose is to drive from home to work, and the vehicle hickups, stalls, and crashes on the way, all these extra "features" are not worth much. Same with a computer, where the vendors seem to have forgotten why people use computers.
Back in 1983, I had the illusion that buying a word processor with a spelling chequer, would improve my writing and spelling. That hasn't happened. Somewhat later, I had similar illusions about electronic drawing, electronic drafting, music composition, balancing my chequebook, doing my bookkeeping, and doing my taxes. None of these have improved in any way. The garbage I feed it, is the same garbage I get out. It's somewhat easier to produce this garbage, but I still can't write, spell, draw, compose, count, or lie effectively on my taxes.
-- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
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