Re: Self-publication -- a costing.Richard:
"
It used to be
"
What's your time-line on this? I hit on computers in Glasgow in the
sixties, and THEN they were running the buggers on vacuum-packed bulbs.
Crazy, and they took up five rooms to run. Problem was the cooling system.
"
that the platform was called _The IBM_ type of computer. This platform
begins its evolution with the _DOS_ language.
"
Then I went a bit dspsy, plugged back in via Sinclair's ZX80 [sic!] and the
Trash80 when it went Welsh (you could run OS9 on a Dragon 64), and [as
everyone did] switched to Atari when Dragon went bankrupt.
At some point, it occurred to me that trying to program in unix on a
stand-alone when 95% of the world was Gatesworld was a Bad Idea. So I went
for IBM (cleap clones, usually)
"
Wintel is the term that replaced IBM Platform at a certain point.
"
MACs +cost+. Then and now. MACs had/have a better OS, no argument, but ...
"
It is the Mac which created the iconic environment which makes it possible
for people like us to use a computer.
"
Phoof -- eat your quiche. I could write C programs, I could write
sphagetti Basic [on a good day, with the wind behind me, I could even
stretch to machine code] -- what I +couldn't+ do was program in an "iconic
environment", either MAC or Gatesworld.
"
Then the ! Mac ! appears and its platform is based on proprietory technology
that cannot be appropriated or stolen by people like Gates.
"
Hm ... Think both Jobs and Gates ripped this. Who "invented" the iconic
environment? A Brit, wasn't it it? Bit like
The Nation taking the credit for cracking The Enigma Machine.
"
(Gates does support the Mac OS with new software development.) When you
open a Mac you see a far more sophisticated hardware setup
"
Uh. DON'T do hardware.
"
It doesn't require the software that the IBM/Wintel/DOS
"
Hey, I've a REAL cool DOS joke, but I'm too tired at the moment ...
"
rooted platform employs to emulate the pictoral language Apple/Steve Jobs
launched in history with the Mac and earlier prototypes in the 1970s.
"
Richard, get your history straight -- sixties was Apple and Commodore
fighting it out for The Personal Computer Market. Apple (and Steve Jobs)
won (before IBM joined the fight) -- but that was +well+ before Windows.
"
It is compelling how deeply people are invested in their computer on an
emotional basis. Arguing about computers - strange thing to do, but we do
it. I guess they really are extensions of our nerve/mind systems.
"
True.
ALL
too true.
"
You sound like you really do have your project under control.
"
Alas (alas!) no. No. No. no ...
"
And, no, I do not believe I know as much about setting up a magazine as you
do - or much else, for that matter.
"
Liar. You're the professional in this area. Don't self-deprecate.
Robin
(PS -- to everyone who's bored out of their skulls, I think Richard and I
better go backchanennel on this. Hereafter.
D2)
|