[huskerlug] Re: Thoughts on the Write Brothers and Desktops

Excellent observations!  I like your propeller analogy...

My "Moon Shot" hope:
My first computer was an analog computer that I used in my=20
Physics classes and math classes.   In 1978 I bought the=20
first Apple purchased in Nebraska from Team Electronics.
I used that box extensively in my classes, from keeping=20
grades to simulating drag racing a Datsun, all with software=20
I wrote myself.  Thirty years ago there weren't many=20
software writers for personal computers so one had to do it=20
himself.  =20

Within two years there were a slew of programs available,=20
some free, some shareware and some propriatary.
Programs with related functionalities were tied together with=20
menu shells and the ability to communicate between programs=20
appeared.  By 1983 software appeared which could convert=20
text to sound and spoken word to text.  Both technologies=20
were crude, to say the least, but the promise was there.

I had started my PC consulting business in 1980 and had sold=20
many Apples and Apple clones to area High Schools and=20
businesses.   Plato was 'almost there', as were several=20
other apparently AI technologies.   I felt confident that=20
within 15 years we would be talking to our PCs as if they=20
were HAL.    To me, this was the "Moon shot" for computers.

=46ifteen years later, after I had retired my PC business to=20
fulfill a desire to return to teaching, I was appalled to=20
see that not only had no progress been made in educational=20
use of computers, but they were still using  15 year old=20
Apple II+ comptuers!!!  At one school I subbed at I saw a=20
computer printout laying on the teacher's desk.  When I=20
examined it I discovered it was a printout of the program I=20
had written in 1979 to score wrestling matches for the=20
Nebraska State Highschool Wrestling Championship Meet!!! =20
The program had someone elses name on the title page, but=20
that person apparently couldn't figure out how I could cause=20
my name and phone number to appear in the footer of each=20
page on the printout, so he couldn't change it.  Some of the=20
newer software included Geometer's SketchPad, which is neat,=20
and some Physics lab simulation tools.  Other than that, the=20
big computer program in HS is Typing Tutor.  Except for the=20
Internet access, the use of computers in HS education is a=20
wasteland.

I am still waiting to be able to talk to my computer like it=20
was a sentient being.  I don't believe that I will live long=20
enough to see that happen, even if I live another 33 years=20
and reach 95, like my dad did.

Even so, I believe that computers have been locked into=20
mediocrity every since Microsoft gained control of what the=20
major OEMs could put on their PCs by defeating OS/2.

Innovation in cars, say within the last 20 years?
mmmm... =20

1) single pan construction, replacing A frames
2) shock absorbers replacing spring bumpers
3) Halogen headlights
4) GPS navigation with street atlas integration
5) plastic fenders
6)  Sun roofs ( :-) )
7a)  the electric car with fly-by-wire steering using an=20
airplane yoke that can switch sides and containing a small=20
LCD HUD in the middle of the yoke.
7b) fuel cells
7c) The newest electric car featuring 6,800 Lithium-ion=20
batteries that can give the car 300 mile range and a top=20
speed of 100mph.  It can do 0-60mph in under 4 seconds.
8) The Mollar M400 SkyCar, although I am not sure how this is=20
any real improvement over a GyroCopter, which could jump=20
start into the air within 20 feet and land on a dime.  No=20
roters, I guess.  But, I am not sure I could stand several=20
hundred of these screamers within ear shot at any given=20
time.  Myplayer will let you play the mp4 videos for the=20
most recent test flights.  I think their flight control=20
software has a lot more stability testing to undergo.
9) how about recent advances in the techniques for designing=20
cars?

?


On Monday 22 September 2003 10:37 am, you wrote:
> It might be interesting to actually study whether we are
> "off course" or not in the technology industry.  Consider
> that it takes about 6-9 months for another iteration of a
> technology compared to 2-5 years (conservative) for
> another iteration of aviation (or any transportation)
> technology.  The hard part would be defining a "got to the
> moon" objective for IT.  When has IT hit the ultimate
> goal? Even the moon landing was not the end of aviation
> development.
>
> Showing that we are "behind" would go a long way in
> proving such a theory (that the DMCA/M$ is hindering IT
> development).
>
> There are, of course, places where the analogy breaks
> down.  In 1925 there wasn't a propeller company demanding
> a single engine configuration so that it only had to
> design a single propeller.  (No one complained since the
> propeller was included in the plane and you didn't have to
> think about it.)  Today we have the majority of software
> companies refusing to sell/design software for Mac or
> Linux, further pigeon-holing us into a single OS paradigm.
>  There are outside influences other than the DMCA/M$
> holding us in a single OS world.
>
> Its often a dangerous road to travel, comparing other
> industries and technology to the computer industry.  So
> many things are just different.  (But I did like the
> discussion anyway..)
>
> (BTW, when was the last real innovation in the auto
> industry?  We have dozens of car makers, and yet the
> automobile hasn't had any real design modification in
> decades.)
>
> Carl
>
> > Had the DMCA been in effect in 1980 we'd sill be using
> > the=3D20 MAC or perhaps the WinX.X, depending on whose
> > laywers won=3D20 the lawsuite that would have evolved.  I
> > don't think it=3D20 would have evolved as far as it has
> > which, considering the=3D20 XP in relation to the Win
> > 3.11, is still not very far.
> >
> > =3D2D-=3D20
> > =3D2D=3D20
> > Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic
> > by=3D20 professionals
> > GreyGeek
> >
> > ----
> > Husker Linux Users Group mailing list
> > To unsubscribe, send a message to
> > huskerlug-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject of
> > UNSUBSCRIBE

=2D-=20
=2D=20
Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by=20
professionals
GreyGeek

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