Re: Happy B-Day to my IIGS!!!

[exuhag@exu.ericsson.se (James Hague)]

Philip Stephens writes:
>
>  It is a common misconception that more Megahertz and more colours and more
>resolution is the only factors that matter in choosing a computer.  It is a
>common misconception that a 1 Mhz, 6 colour, 280x192 isn't capable of doing
>many of the common tasks that a computer user requires.

That's one of the sanest posts I've seen in a long while.  The best reaction
to out-and-out advoacy is a mellow one.

I own several older machines and I'm happy with them all.  I know them
very well, both from the standpoint of a user and a programmer.  I also
own a more mainstream machine, though it is getting to be considered
outdated by the popular press.  Upgrading may be "cheap," but I don't
feel a need and $200 here and $200 there is no longer cheap IMO.

I have periodically jumped on the bandwagon and bought expensive
software and hardware.  I have almost always been disappointed.  In
general, whenever I have started down the "newer is better, memory
is cheap, 'bigger' systems are a substitute for care and precision"
road, I have been unhappy.  Just because I plant a small garden in
my backyard doesn't mean that I want to own a commercial wheat farm.

The impression I have of a lot of computer fantics is that they
don't want to actually *do* anything.  They want to have the
capabilities to do things that someday they will never do.  Instead
of painting a picture, they want to own a paint factory and a giant,
complex machine that will paint pictures for them.  I don't know
how to react to people like that.

Here, I'll stop with the bad analogies!

>  Hell, even the GS has a multitasking Unix shell.  Even my Apple ][+ could
>assemble my biggest arcade games in less than 30 seconds using the LISA
>assembler

I have to wonder what the people actually *want* when they say
they crave speed and power.  Tell someone about the above example
and they'll respond with "but that assembler doesn't have the
five thousand features that mine does and the manual isn't six
inches thick."  Like I said, I'm not sure what they really want.

--
James Hague
exuhag@exu.ericsson.se