11 Apr
2006
11 Apr
'06
3:12 p.m.
Rumor has it that Jim Battle may have mentioned these words:
Tony Duell wrote:
>Yes, back when engineers actually thought about things and didn't attempt
>to 'solve' problems by throwing computing power at them.
[snippage]
I agree with you, Jim, but:
Here is a thought experiment. If the designers of the
<insert name of
some machine you admire> had access to the resources of today with the
constraints of today, do you think they'd still go about it the same way?
That may very well depend on the machine in question, and the designer
him/herself. The designers who built something "for the fun of it" and not
to make a profit (the amount of possible/potential profit is immaterial,
but the motive for designing said widget to begin with) said designer may
very well employ the exact techniques now as they did then. Hobbies
generally aren't profitable... ones that are rarely stay in "hobby" status.
Removing profit from the equation actually relaxes a lot of the engineering
constraints to be considered, as one can be a lot less efficient and "who
cares." ;-)
However, in a purely commercial context, I'd say that anyone who doesn't
keep up with the newer tools available may well not be in business long. [[
How many ISPs still offer shell accounts & 1200baud access??? Very few, as
there's no profit in it anymore. ]]
Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger
--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers
zmerch at 30below.com
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