Re: What has changed in the Apple world last 6 months?

["Frank Townsend" <ftownsen@iamdigex.net>]

I think you kind of miss Paul's point.

First of all, a 50 MB database for veterinarians is weird.  What're they
doing: saving bitmapped images of the animals?  WAV files of neighs and
meows? If these are text based, (assuming 6 characters per word) that's
nearly 4.5 million words.  A novel may only have 100,000 words or so.
Anyway, you do the math.  Sounds like something's wrong with the database.

Second, the workaday stuff done with computers (except for games) is
basically using word processors, spreadsheets and databases, i.e., all text
based stuff, which Apple IIs easily handle.

If you *did* have a massive database in the 80's, then mid or main frames
would have been used.  But most small businesses (except for this anomalous
Vets office you mention) really have quite modest computing requirements:
writing letters, keeping customer lists, printing invoices, etc.

As for reliability, the uptime figures for Win95 are terrible.  Frequent
reboots are the norm, and no one would use Win95 or Win98 for mission
critical applications.  Even NT had average uptimes between reboots of only
7 days.

That being said, how many times do you ever remember your little Apple II
ever going to the equivalent of a blue screen"  My memory is never (and I
was probably a heavy user from 1981-1988).  Of course, since you had little
practical use of the machines, you don't have much of a sample, but the
notion of a General Protection Fault was quite alien to me.  An Apple II
seemed more like a refrigerator or microwave.  You turned it on, and it
worked.  The Apple II was *not* the inspiration for the following bit of
techno-poetry.


    Haikus For A HiTech Age

--Odes to the mysteries and joys of Windows computing


Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

A file that big?
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.

The Web site you seek
Can not be located but
Countless more exist.

Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

ABORTED effort:
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask way too much.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

First snow, then silence.
This thousand dollar screen dies
So beautifully.

With searching comes loss
And the presence of absence:
"My Novel" not found.

The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao, until
You bring fresh toner.

Stay the patient course
Of little worth is your ire
The network is down.

A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data.
Guess which has occurred.

You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.

Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen.  Mind.  Both are blank.



"Paul Grammens" <grammens@svn.net> wrote in message
3a2fd875@news.svn.net">news:3a2fd875@news.svn.net...
>
> Paul Schlyter <pausch@saaf.se> wrote
> >
> > Why?  These old Apple's had enough CPU power needed by many
> > businesses.  The extra CPU power in modern computers is mostly used
> > for "visual sugar" (pretty-looking GUI's etc), without adding any
> > real content.  Or for idle cycles....
> >
>
> Nope. For example, I've worked on the computers in a couple of local vet
> offices. Their DOS based vet software packages and data are over 50 megs.
> Imagine how long it would take to do daily backups on an Apple II.  Then
> there is the issue of reliability and parts availability...
> Sorry, I disagree with you.