On Mon, 12 May 1997, Charles P. Hobbs wrote:
The main thing
that struck me is the diversity of computer systems that
were available in the early 80s. Contrast that with what you got today
(Wintel crap/Macincrap). That diveristy is what we are discovering
today.
The other side of the coin, though, is the difficulty of converting
programs
to make them work on your computer. I remember spending a lot of time
in high school, trying to convert TRS-80 and Apple II programs to run on
my TI-99/4A. Fun? Yes. Would I want to do this under deadline pressure?
Probably not.
But wouldn't you agree that all the frustration you went through back
then is what enables you to write good code today? The diversity back
then was at least conducive to creativity. You were always challenged.
If you got bored, there was always some other system out there to conquer.
These days its trying to figure out what IRQ and base address you should
use, and some of that is handled for you anyway. What fun is that?
Sam
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