bitstreamer

Why isn't a computer like a phone?

Having used a PC for a decade and a half, it never ceases to amaze how unsorted out the technology is, compared with say, the telephone. A PC does a lot more than a phone, but phones - which we have been using happily for, can we say it, centuries, without having to understand anything about how they work - cannot surely have created the anxiety that PCs do. In a sense we have been sold a lemon. No one would put up with a new car which had problems with the transmission or gears. Why have we accepted over the years PCs with "unfinished" software ? Everyone seems to have slipped into a mode in which a "patch" is not seen as what it is: the software was sold to you before they got it working properly.

Though all the recommendations such as Schneider's may or may not be wise, I'll put up similar sites as I come across them. Check out the debate that ensues at the bottom of his page.

Number 22 Blogdex 15 December 2004 is who links to me "for the ultimate narcissist within you". Even for someone like me who is sub-technical, this code seems harmless enough, but how can we tell what this is? Wonder how many pasted this into their weblogs today without asking what it might do apart from give feedback?

posted by Adfero Affero @ 2:47 AM