[sotd] September 3, 2002 [Living with Computers]
- From: "The Site of the Day" <sotd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: sotd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 03 Sep 2002 00:46:57 -0300
Site of the Day for Tuesday, September 3, 2002
Living With a Computer -- from The Atlantic Monthly / July 1982
Feeling inclined for a bit of nostalgia, computer nostalgia? The List
presents a brief journey down the technological memory path with one
writer's conversion to the then new world of personal computing, beginning
in 1979. This article, written three years later for The Atlantic Monthly
describes the ride.
"The process works this way. When I sit down to write a letter or start the
first draft of an article, I simply type on the keyboard and the words
appear on the screen . . . I'd sell my computer before I'd sell my
children. But the kids better watch their step. When have the children
helped me meet a deadline? When has the computer dragged in a dead cat it
found in the back yard? by James Fallows" - from the website
Gentle members may be surprised by the almost matter-of-fact way in which
Fallows includes moving on from word processing to learning how to program
his computer using BASIC, the software which he bought along with his word
processing program ("The Electric Pencil"). Those still fuming at "Word"
might be tempted to turn back the clock. Hindsight, so often sprinkled with
a smug superiority, will be mollified by the author's sage advice to buy
more storage space.
There are a number of eye-catching archival links on the same page, for
those in need of even more nostalgia, particularly the initial segments of
Tracy Kidder's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, "The Soul of a New Flying
Machine".
Amble to the website for a view of computers from a few decades past at:
http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/82jul/fallows.htm
A.M. Holm
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