One thing that the RPM Jukebox brings home is that the big record companies, as near-sighted and shallow as they are, at least make sure that anything going out under their name brand has some truly professional production behind it. Also, these record labels don't limit themselves to what you hear on the radio - you can find folk, classical, jazz and other less pop-oriented genres in their collections, but you do have to search for it.
I worked for the local IBM small systems retailer here in Bermuda at the time IBM was going full bore on trying to promote OS/2. I started with 1.2, which only ran on a 286 and had many limitations, but I thought it was actually quite fleet of foot.
When Warp came out, they seemed to be aiming at a more broad acceptance by the general public. However it was a time of internal strife at IBM, with the classic war between the big iron faction and the small systems guys. Also, there was the same sort of paralyzing bureaucracy at IBM as there is now at MS, and a complete lack of knowledge or political will on how to penetrate the general PC market. I always said that IBM needed to put a Bill Gates-type dictator type marketing genius in charge of the project and it would have killed.
This is precisely what I figured the issue was with OSS-ing it.
What the OSS community should do is analyze the best features of OS/2 and implement them in Linux. I loved the concept of moving to a document-centric way of working, as opposed to application-centric. Many have said that the Windows UI we've been burdened with since 95 is a half-arsed attempt at cloning the Mac interface, when in fact I immediately recognized it as a quarter-arsed implementation of the Presentation Manager.
OS/2 probably isn't worth mucking about with in OSS anyway, but a thorough analysis of it's features and interface paradigm is well worth doing IMHO.
Interesting... Does this mean that if another (reputable) firm does indeed develop a quantum memory device which they attempt to market, could Atomchip sue, claiming patent infringement? Maybe that's what's up here: the guy behind this does know enough to realize that someone, somewhere is bound to do so and he'll pick the right moment to pounce with his lawyers.
...about urban panic can be divined from watching Godzilla movies whilst passing the ol' bong.
In fact, that's what inspired the idea for this study: They were sitting around at a party doing just that, when the weed touched off one of those deeeep, meaningful conversations about the screaming masses in Tokyo that went on for a few hours. Then they wrote it up and called it a study.
Is that crappy keyboards are cheap and disposable, whereas the IBM is built like a tank. And when you hit a key on the IBM you know you've hit it. It's a very positive feeling, with a very definite and known press point; you don't have to guess whether you've managed to cause a letter to appear on the screen. Geeze, you would have gone nuts in an office in the 1950's!
I can also tell you that mine has suffered a number of violent incidents when the pooter decided to be unco-operative, including hands smashed quite hard on the keys. I was sure it was a gonner a few times, including once when my office flooded from above, but after a drying out period it was fine. I figure this thing is getting close to 20 years of age with no sign of fatigue. And yes, it's the same reason I listen to my music on a Pioneer SX-650 receiver from 1978 feeding a pair of B&W Series 1 Matrix 2 speakers from the early 80's: Rock solid build quality matched with performance (sound quality) which blows away anything but the most expensive equipment today.
I was going to mention the mice as well - good call. And yes, Jobs is well known for form despite function. Inadequately cooled computers with unusually high failure rates are not uncommon, just to keep the case slim and fit his aesthetic.
One cool feature is the easily replaceable key caps - just pop em off and clean or replace with a special character set of your choice.
I really can think of nothing that one could do to improve on the design. My fingers are perfectly deformed to work with that layout with maximum efficiency.
Back then, before cursor keys were standard, I got used to having to backspace in order to correct a writing error. Sadly, I still reflexively do that. *Sigh*.
I just replied to another comment on this very subject, saying that I too have used and abused IBM 101s for many years and always pick up a spare when I can. You'd be amazed at the companies which will toss them as obsolete when they upgrade. Now if only I could adapt the PS/2 connector to USB I'd be a really crappy hamper.
Indeed Apple should be charged with crimes against humanity for the quality of it's keyboards. Difficult to depress the keys because of the plastic key plunger rubbing against the plastic cylinder and devoid of tactile feedback. Thank doG for USB and the ability to use 3rd-party keyboards with it.
Thoroughly agree with your post. I still think that the "Jesus keyboard" is the IBM 101, which I have used daily for almost my entire computer working life. I've been very lucky to have acquired them for free, one even from on top of a heap of computer-related trash on the sidewalk. My friends walking with me at the time looked at me like I was insane *grin*. Another I acquired from the estate of a friend who had passed away.
IBM's keyboard design skills came from their obvious association with typewriters. Some of the mainframe and mini terminals had monstrous keyboards which reminded one of the C64 in shape and key colour and general layout. These had a built-in speaker which sent out a very loud "CLACK!" when a key was pressed which was to simulate the audible feedback of a typewriter for clerks used to the typewriter.
About the only other company which used the same keyboard design as the IBM 101 was ATT. This was of course when quality still mattered. The worst keyboards were early PC clone manufacturers who made theirs in the standard layout, but the keys were difficult to push down due to the plastic on plastic construction or were complete mush to type on, with absolutely *no* sort of tactile feedback to speak of.
I will say though that with just a little bit of consideration, many of those keyboards could have been vastly improved by the design teams. I mean, that early Commodore square key layout is so illogical that I can't imagine *what* they were thinking.
> Given that the average PC-buyer doesn't know the difference between Gigabytes and Megahertz
I think this is a bit of a misgiving, as I think the average computer knowledge has risen considerably over the years. I do believe that the average user does care whether they're getting XP or Vista. Not all, but a greater proportion than you give credit to.
There was quite a bit of great jazz out, not to mention Bob Dylan, Santana, a tonne of classical et al. But the best sounding stuff was their jazz catalog. While their classical was very poorly mastered, the jazz truly sparkled.
But you'll have to the vinyl to find the best examples in full analog...
From what I've been reading, the thousand-odd posts this article has garnered so far could be boiled down to two:
1: "I tried every distribution of Linux and it sucked [insert reasoning here] so I switched to OSX. Now I'm happy as a pig wallowing in it's own poo."
2: "I tried every version of OSX and it sucked [insert reasoning here] so I switched to Linux. Now I'm happy as a pig wallowing in it's own poo."
Taco should have just posted those two comments as ACs and locked the board.
I don't hold out hope that these sensible suggestions will go over well with the apparently money-mad accountants at the various mega-media representative organisations, but at least we have people talking. I do believe that this year will see even more erosion of support for the **AA mafia by big media, as it becomes increasingly clear through discussion like this that they are doing far more to sow negative publicity than good. And indeed, I envision a day when bands actually shy away from big record contracts because they see association with the big labels as negative.
Indeed there was a major difference between Windows 98 and XP, in that 98 was still based on ye olde 16 bit code and launched from what was essentially DOS, very unsecure and very much an OS with it's feet planted firmly in the past.
XP is a true 32-bit OS, but they made both 2K and XP well enough that for the vast majority of users there was and is little need to upgrade beyond that. Vista may indeed have some advantages technically, but certainly not enough for the hassle of acquiring new hardware, etc. Most people can surf the web, read email, bang out a letter, do an Autocad drawing, create a very complex spreadsheet, etc. just fine on XP, and Vista doesn't promise to make those tasks any faster or easier.
I've got quite a few clients and none of them have Vista now. The one who got a new machine inadvertently installed with it despite specifying XP got a swift downgrade, even though I had to do a bit of digging for drivers for XP. Well worth it for my sanity and that of the client.
The more complex the technology of warfare becomes, the more Achilles heels accumulate in the designs. The fact technical items at some point become so complex that one cannot possibly test all possible failure or vulnerability scenarios against it, even with advanced computer modeling and such. If we can build cheap, disposable robots to replace human troops in one-on-one gunbattle in the streets of Western al-Bumfuck, Iraq that would be a major advancement though.
The successful OS upgrades such as OSX, Windows 2000 and XP and 95 before it have been so because of (at least perceived) fundamental changes and improvements to their architectures. People see these OSs has having reached a sort of end point which can't be improved on fundamentally, but are happily incrementally upgrading with 3rd party apps and utilities. Indeed, even OSX Leopard seems to me less a major upgrade than a bunch of cool enhancements to already existing apps. Certainly the Time Machine could have been released as a stand-alone app.
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One thing that the RPM Jukebox brings home is that the big record companies, as near-sighted and shallow as they are, at least make sure that anything going out under their name brand has some truly professional production behind it. Also, these record labels don't limit themselves to what you hear on the radio - you can find folk, classical, jazz and other less pop-oriented genres in their collections, but you do have to search for it.
I worked for the local IBM small systems retailer here in Bermuda at the time IBM was going full bore on trying to promote OS/2. I started with 1.2, which only ran on a 286 and had many limitations, but I thought it was actually quite fleet of foot.
When Warp came out, they seemed to be aiming at a more broad acceptance by the general public. However it was a time of internal strife at IBM, with the classic war between the big iron faction and the small systems guys. Also, there was the same sort of paralyzing bureaucracy at IBM as there is now at MS, and a complete lack of knowledge or political will on how to penetrate the general PC market. I always said that IBM needed to put a Bill Gates-type dictator type marketing genius in charge of the project and it would have killed.
This is precisely what I figured the issue was with OSS-ing it.
What the OSS community should do is analyze the best features of OS/2 and implement them in Linux. I loved the concept of moving to a document-centric way of working, as opposed to application-centric. Many have said that the Windows UI we've been burdened with since 95 is a half-arsed attempt at cloning the Mac interface, when in fact I immediately recognized it as a quarter-arsed implementation of the Presentation Manager.
OS/2 probably isn't worth mucking about with in OSS anyway, but a thorough analysis of it's features and interface paradigm is well worth doing IMHO.
Interesting... Does this mean that if another (reputable) firm does indeed develop a quantum memory device which they attempt to market, could Atomchip sue, claiming patent infringement? Maybe that's what's up here: the guy behind this does know enough to realize that someone, somewhere is bound to do so and he'll pick the right moment to pounce with his lawyers.
Just spackulatin'...
...about urban panic can be divined from watching Godzilla movies whilst passing the ol' bong.
In fact, that's what inspired the idea for this study: They were sitting around at a party doing just that, when the weed touched off one of those deeeep, meaningful conversations about the screaming masses in Tokyo that went on for a few hours. Then they wrote it up and called it a study.
Is that crappy keyboards are cheap and disposable, whereas the IBM is built like a tank. And when you hit a key on the IBM you know you've hit it. It's a very positive feeling, with a very definite and known press point; you don't have to guess whether you've managed to cause a letter to appear on the screen. Geeze, you would have gone nuts in an office in the 1950's!
I can also tell you that mine has suffered a number of violent incidents when the pooter decided to be unco-operative, including hands smashed quite hard on the keys. I was sure it was a gonner a few times, including once when my office flooded from above, but after a drying out period it was fine. I figure this thing is getting close to 20 years of age with no sign of fatigue. And yes, it's the same reason I listen to my music on a Pioneer SX-650 receiver from 1978 feeding a pair of B&W Series 1 Matrix 2 speakers from the early 80's: Rock solid build quality matched with performance (sound quality) which blows away anything but the most expensive equipment today.
I was going to mention the mice as well - good call. And yes, Jobs is well known for form despite function. Inadequately cooled computers with unusually high failure rates are not uncommon, just to keep the case slim and fit his aesthetic.
One cool feature is the easily replaceable key caps - just pop em off and clean or replace with a special character set of your choice.
I really can think of nothing that one could do to improve on the design. My fingers are perfectly deformed to work with that layout with maximum efficiency.
Awesome! Thanks so much for that - now I can safely upgrade my motherboard from the 286 PC AT I'm currently using.
:-)
Cheers
Back then, before cursor keys were standard, I got used to having to backspace in order to correct a writing error. Sadly, I still reflexively do that. *Sigh*.
I just replied to another comment on this very subject, saying that I too have used and abused IBM 101s for many years and always pick up a spare when I can. You'd be amazed at the companies which will toss them as obsolete when they upgrade. Now if only I could adapt the PS/2 connector to USB I'd be a really crappy hamper.
Indeed Apple should be charged with crimes against humanity for the quality of it's keyboards. Difficult to depress the keys because of the plastic key plunger rubbing against the plastic cylinder and devoid of tactile feedback. Thank doG for USB and the ability to use 3rd-party keyboards with it.
Thoroughly agree with your post. I still think that the "Jesus keyboard" is the IBM 101, which I have used daily for almost my entire computer working life. I've been very lucky to have acquired them for free, one even from on top of a heap of computer-related trash on the sidewalk. My friends walking with me at the time looked at me like I was insane *grin*. Another I acquired from the estate of a friend who had passed away.
IBM's keyboard design skills came from their obvious association with typewriters. Some of the mainframe and mini terminals had monstrous keyboards which reminded one of the C64 in shape and key colour and general layout. These had a built-in speaker which sent out a very loud "CLACK!" when a key was pressed which was to simulate the audible feedback of a typewriter for clerks used to the typewriter.
About the only other company which used the same keyboard design as the IBM 101 was ATT. This was of course when quality still mattered. The worst keyboards were early PC clone manufacturers who made theirs in the standard layout, but the keys were difficult to push down due to the plastic on plastic construction or were complete mush to type on, with absolutely *no* sort of tactile feedback to speak of.
I will say though that with just a little bit of consideration, many of those keyboards could have been vastly improved by the design teams. I mean, that early Commodore square key layout is so illogical that I can't imagine *what* they were thinking.
The camera could also be mounted on your shoe. Just sayin'...
> Given that the average PC-buyer doesn't know the difference between Gigabytes and Megahertz
I think this is a bit of a misgiving, as I think the average computer knowledge has risen considerably over the years. I do believe that the average user does care whether they're getting XP or Vista. Not all, but a greater proportion than you give credit to.
There was quite a bit of great jazz out, not to mention Bob Dylan, Santana, a tonne of classical et al. But the best sounding stuff was their jazz catalog. While their classical was very poorly mastered, the jazz truly sparkled.
But you'll have to the vinyl to find the best examples in full analog...
From what I've been reading, the thousand-odd posts this article has garnered so far could be boiled down to two: 1: "I tried every distribution of Linux and it sucked [insert reasoning here] so I switched to OSX. Now I'm happy as a pig wallowing in it's own poo." 2: "I tried every version of OSX and it sucked [insert reasoning here] so I switched to Linux. Now I'm happy as a pig wallowing in it's own poo." Taco should have just posted those two comments as ACs and locked the board.
Dick Cheney with a couple of beers inside him and a loaded shotgun could probably account for a huge portion of the extinction.
I don't know, but it does have UTF underware.
I don't hold out hope that these sensible suggestions will go over well with the apparently money-mad accountants at the various mega-media representative organisations, but at least we have people talking. I do believe that this year will see even more erosion of support for the **AA mafia by big media, as it becomes increasingly clear through discussion like this that they are doing far more to sow negative publicity than good. And indeed, I envision a day when bands actually shy away from big record contracts because they see association with the big labels as negative.
But five years is far too short. Twenty years would make a good compromise I believe. Good food for thought here...
Indeed there was a major difference between Windows 98 and XP, in that 98 was still based on ye olde 16 bit code and launched from what was essentially DOS, very unsecure and very much an OS with it's feet planted firmly in the past.
XP is a true 32-bit OS, but they made both 2K and XP well enough that for the vast majority of users there was and is little need to upgrade beyond that. Vista may indeed have some advantages technically, but certainly not enough for the hassle of acquiring new hardware, etc. Most people can surf the web, read email, bang out a letter, do an Autocad drawing, create a very complex spreadsheet, etc. just fine on XP, and Vista doesn't promise to make those tasks any faster or easier.
I've got quite a few clients and none of them have Vista now. The one who got a new machine inadvertently installed with it despite specifying XP got a swift downgrade, even though I had to do a bit of digging for drivers for XP. Well worth it for my sanity and that of the client.
So yet another boffin does a study of something everyone knew instinctively. Oy.
The more complex the technology of warfare becomes, the more Achilles heels accumulate in the designs. The fact technical items at some point become so complex that one cannot possibly test all possible failure or vulnerability scenarios against it, even with advanced computer modeling and such. If we can build cheap, disposable robots to replace human troops in one-on-one gunbattle in the streets of Western al-Bumfuck, Iraq that would be a major advancement though.
The successful OS upgrades such as OSX, Windows 2000 and XP and 95 before it have been so because of (at least perceived) fundamental changes and improvements to their architectures. People see these OSs has having reached a sort of end point which can't be improved on fundamentally, but are happily incrementally upgrading with 3rd party apps and utilities. Indeed, even OSX Leopard seems to me less a major upgrade than a bunch of cool enhancements to already existing apps. Certainly the Time Machine could have been released as a stand-alone app.