A history of computing
In the 1980s, personal computers were toys for hobbyists. In the 1990s, they became tools for ordinary people. In the 21st century, they have become goggleboxes for idiots.
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Goggleboxes or Googleboxes?
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This idiot only owns 1 chromebook. I could not pass up the cheap price I paid for it. It works good also. For the kind of computer user I am. Can run Linux if I want to. But I have other laptops for that.
But I got broad shoulders. So I can take it. Being called a idiot. My self assured manliness usually considers the source of such statements. I then move on. |
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Also: any issues with heat generation? |
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I guess the big difference between then and now was that back then a lot of savings were reinvested. Now they seem to be bled out of the company as fast as possible, often resulting in a death spiral. There was also a fair amount of scientific computing going on, but nothing like now. |
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This grew a ton in the 90's once Windows started catching up with MAC and Linux started to be seen around the block. I suppose I can't necessarily disagree about the 21st century remark, however I also feel that it is what you make of it. Sure I do use my phone to look things up, but I'm not looking up videos of dumb people doing dumb things just for a laugh. Meanwhile one can probably criticize stuff I look up per personal preference merely because different people have different tastes. Same comment in reverse is that whatever you choose to look up, if anything, I may criticize that choice as well. But those are personal choices. Meanwhile I still feel that personal computers are used a great deal for real work. You said you're in your 70s in a different thread. Do you work? What exactly do you do with a personal computer? For my part I'm saying that I do work on personal computers, four different ones which I have in my office as a matter of fact. |
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https://www.amazon.com/Acer-C710-283.../dp/B00EYTI0TG It is not laggy at all. With Youtube. Movies, Music. Few Tabs open <I am not a mutiple tab user much>. The 32 gig sd card holds my movies, music, pictures, you get the idea. No speed issues. But I use a class 10 SD card. No issues with heat either. I live in the desert. |
A million years of mankind living on this earth has brought us closer to death and filled our time with electronic solitaire.
I am hoping for something like IBM's box to some day assist medical problems so that the mom and pop doctors won't have to take 30 years to learn their jobs. (I have a poor opinion of the current methods in medical treatment) |
What he said. I don't need a self driving car.
What I need? A self driving prostate. |
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On the larger scale of the point of this thread I'd like to say idiots would be idiots without PCs or the Internet.. At least with those things they can come into contact with people who don't suffer fools or patronize them. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the overthrow of Mubarik and others, tyranny is at risk like never before, Tyrants can now be toppled without firing a shot. For me that utterly compensates for those that choose to remain ignorant. They will adapt or die out. |
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On the larger scale of the point of this thread I'd like to say idiots would be idiots without PCs or the Internet.. At least with those things they can come into contact with people who don't suffer fools or patronize them. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the overthrow of Mubarik and others, tyranny is at risk like never before, Tyrants can now be toppled without firing a shot. For me that utterly compensates for those that choose to remain ignorant. They will adapt or die out. --- XKCD on Free Speech --- |
Through the mid-1980's computers were expensive, and primarily used by government/business/education entities, and therefore the software was business oriented.
After PC's thrust computers into the public eye, there has been a never-ending procession of new "fun" uses of computers, which imho is a good thing. People use computers to accomplish things they can't accomplish otherwise, and whatever it is they want to do is just fine, even if I don't particularly like or use these new things (like social media, for example). But whatever new thing people want to do on their computer devices it fine with me. |
Maybe I got the dates wrong, but I can remember reading with amazement about things called microcomputers that you could buy in America as kits from Radio Shack and then put together yourself. They were the equivalent of Raspberries today. Obviously only geeks used them.
I remember microcomputers coming in for office use. The first one I saw was a Commodore Pet and there didn't seem to be much you could do with it compared with a "proper computer" (i.e. a mainframe), but by the time I retired, our department was using a few PCs running DOS alongside dumb terminals. The only advantage we could see to them was that you could buy them on a departmental budget without having to go through the IT department. I bought my first PC after my mother died, because I had inherited a stash of family letters from her and needed a computer to help me decipher and translate them. It wasn't a job you could do at all easily on paper. That was a second-hand box with about 4 MB of core, running Windows 95. It was a useful tool and you didn't have to be a geek to use it. It was easy to learn to use the software. If anyone is interested in the story of the letters, there's a ramble about them on my website called The Brown Box. What I find so sad about most modern computer use is that most of these people are not interested in computers at all; they merely use them to access something they consider less boring, like updating their Facebook status or watching videos of cats. |
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