I bet you they said that to every competitor, including the idiots who brought the stupid "growing bean sprouts on a jar lid covered in cotton" second-grade science experiment.
You are missing the point, they are indeed pre-configured as such, but this configuration is not alterable. Therefore it is not a default configuration which occurs by inaction of the buyer, but which he can override; it is the standard configuration prescribed by cultural or legal policies.
You see, "default" implies inaction, which in turn implies that some action will override or avoid it.
Wrong again. The word implies an expectation, not an obligation, to act. In the case of a loan, the expectation coincides with an obligation; however, this is the nature of a loan itself, not of the concept of "default". In the case of computer configurations, the expectation is regarding the options the user can customize. The fact that most users won't is a matter of choice, convenience, or inertia; and not an inherent limitation of the technology nor of the term.
-dZ.
Re:Pre-1950 systems with configurable defaults.
on
On the Humble Default
·
· Score: 1
How about a fancy 1930s toaster, with a "browning" knob, pre-set at the "center" for optimal toasting?
But this is also false. As an example, consider a toaster, which comes with a "default" setting representing the optimal "browning" temperature calibrated at the factory, with a mechanical control allowing you to alter this temperature.
For a pre-1960s example of such magical use of a default, I hereby present to you the Toast-O-Later; just one of a myriad devices of its time, going back to the 1920s and 1930s: http://www.jitterbuzz.com/indtol.html
Those are not "default" since, by their nature, they eliminate choice. Your example would be a default if my car was pre-configured to drive on the right side of the road on my failure to choose which side; but allow me to alter this state once I take control.
Likewise, your light switch example is flawed: I am not given a choice to select whether up is on or off; this selection is done by the electrician based on cultural conventions and standards.
On these two examples, the initial configuration is permanent, and as such it is not based on my failure to act, which is technically what the word "default" means.
An example of a default is if I am allowed to select a color for my brand new car, but failing to do so, it comes in generic black. In this case, black is the "default color". Another example, which means the same thing but which people tend to confuse as a completely different meaning, is if I have a mortgage on my home and due to my failure to pay it on time, the bank claims ownership and evicts me. This is a case of "loan default". Both examples involve my failure to act in some expected way.
Actually, the term has exactly the same meaning when talking about computers, you just need to put it in context and use it correctly. "Default" means "failure to act", so a loan "default" means you failed to make payments. When talking about computers, the proper term is "default configuration", which means you have not changed it (or failed to change it) from its factory settings.
Using "default" without qualification is ambiguous unless the context is expressely clear; you do not know if your boss bought the computer with a loan, for example. I bet that had you said "default configuration" instead of just "default", it would have sounded much less of a financial term, perhaps prompting him to ask you to explain what it was. However, I can see this working only from the beginning, when establishing context; as soon as he takes hold of a financial context, his concerns and bias will taint and load the term from then on.
Exactly. The author implies that mechanical systems built before the 1960s came without built-in functionality or options. For an obvious example, take the toaster: since the dawn of the bread-toasting craze, it has included a "browning" control. This mechanical control, be it a knob, slider, or switch, had a base setting which was calibrated at the factory. This was its "default" position for optimum toasting. You could always change it up or down, as you desire, and return it back to its original setting.
"Defaults", as we know them, have always been there, though perhaps not called as such. The term "default" technically means "failure to act", and throughout its history has had negative connotations, which is why the author may not have seen it in the same context when reading pre-computer nomenclature. "Base settings", or "factory configurations" are synonymous in this context.
Many companies may have done this in the past, that is true; but the point is that you'd be hard pressed to find this kind of official tinkering support from a hardware company nowadays.
That is true. The indispensable "C=64 Advanced Programmer's Guide" included not only a complete Assembly Language reference and detailed memory and bus maps, but a fold-in schematic diagram of the entire machine.
The funny thing is, just like the other commenters, it seems like second nature to me too. I mean, I type normally on an modern US keyboard, but when I fired up a C=64 emulator for the very first time a few years ago, one of the first things I typed was: LOAD"$",8 without missing a beat.
It was only a few minutes later that I noticed that there was no quotation-mark over the "2" key and that due to some freakish mental glitch, my fingers knew precisely where to go.
The article compares the current price of the iPhone with the introductory price of the C=64. A few years in (circa 1984), you could buy a C=64 from K-mart at $90.00 USD. This was convenience, since the cheap power supply tended to burn up and die, and it was sometimes easier and cheaper to just buy a replacement machine. I went through three of the things back then!
Slashdot Mirror
But what if you don't have and can't afford a donkey? Children on the other hand, are everywhere! Just tether them to the pump, et voilá.
-dZ.
I bet you they said that to every competitor, including the idiots who brought the stupid "growing bean sprouts on a jar lid covered in cotton" second-grade science experiment.
-dZ.
True to form to our educational system, he got the same blue ribbon for "participation", along with all the other hundreds of "winners".
-dZ.
Ha, ha! Right. Well that was easy; for some reason I was thinking of this strip when I wrote it:
http://www.xkcd.com/325/
Ha, ha! You misspelled skilz!
-dZ.
+50 Piss-my-pants funny!
-dZ.
Exactly. We don't want to compete with our fellow meativores, that's just rude.
As for veggiebores, pfffft! Eating grass is just asking for trouble.
-dZ.
It's... its'... peeeeople!
-dZ.
Most humans are already predisposed towards the herbivore end, that's why we breed so many cows, rather than, say, bobcats.
-dZ.
You are missing the point, they are indeed pre-configured as such, but this configuration is not alterable. Therefore it is not a default configuration which occurs by inaction of the buyer, but which he can override; it is the standard configuration prescribed by cultural or legal policies.
You see, "default" implies inaction, which in turn implies that some action will override or avoid it.
-dZ.
Close. It actually comes from the Old French word "defaute", or latin "defalta" or "defallere", meaning a deficiency or failure: de (completely) + fallere (to fault or fail).
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=default
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-default.html
-dZ.
Wrong again. The word implies an expectation, not an obligation, to act. In the case of a loan, the expectation coincides with an obligation; however, this is the nature of a loan itself, not of the concept of "default". In the case of computer configurations, the expectation is regarding the options the user can customize. The fact that most users won't is a matter of choice, convenience, or inertia; and not an inherent limitation of the technology nor of the term.
-dZ.
How about a fancy 1930s toaster, with a "browning" knob, pre-set at the "center" for optimal toasting?
-dZ.
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Oh gawd, sorry.
-dZ.
But this is also false. As an example, consider a toaster, which comes with a "default" setting representing the optimal "browning" temperature calibrated at the factory, with a mechanical control allowing you to alter this temperature.
For a pre-1960s example of such magical use of a default, I hereby present to you the Toast-O-Later; just one of a myriad devices of its time, going back to the 1920s and 1930s:
http://www.jitterbuzz.com/indtol.html
-dZ.
Those are not "default" since, by their nature, they eliminate choice. Your example would be a default if my car was pre-configured to drive on the right side of the road on my failure to choose which side; but allow me to alter this state once I take control.
Likewise, your light switch example is flawed: I am not given a choice to select whether up is on or off; this selection is done by the electrician based on cultural conventions and standards.
On these two examples, the initial configuration is permanent, and as such it is not based on my failure to act, which is technically what the word "default" means.
An example of a default is if I am allowed to select a color for my brand new car, but failing to do so, it comes in generic black. In this case, black is the "default color". Another example, which means the same thing but which people tend to confuse as a completely different meaning, is if I have a mortgage on my home and due to my failure to pay it on time, the bank claims ownership and evicts me. This is a case of "loan default". Both examples involve my failure to act in some expected way.
-dZ.
Actually, the term has exactly the same meaning when talking about computers, you just need to put it in context and use it correctly. "Default" means "failure to act", so a loan "default" means you failed to make payments. When talking about computers, the proper term is "default configuration", which means you have not changed it (or failed to change it) from its factory settings.
Using "default" without qualification is ambiguous unless the context is expressely clear; you do not know if your boss bought the computer with a loan, for example. I bet that had you said "default configuration" instead of just "default", it would have sounded much less of a financial term, perhaps prompting him to ask you to explain what it was. However, I can see this working only from the beginning, when establishing context; as soon as he takes hold of a financial context, his concerns and bias will taint and load the term from then on.
-dZ.
Exactly. The author implies that mechanical systems built before the 1960s came without built-in functionality or options. For an obvious example, take the toaster: since the dawn of the bread-toasting craze, it has included a "browning" control. This mechanical control, be it a knob, slider, or switch, had a base setting which was calibrated at the factory. This was its "default" position for optimum toasting. You could always change it up or down, as you desire, and return it back to its original setting.
"Defaults", as we know them, have always been there, though perhaps not called as such. The term "default" technically means "failure to act", and throughout its history has had negative connotations, which is why the author may not have seen it in the same context when reading pre-computer nomenclature. "Base settings", or "factory configurations" are synonymous in this context.
-dZ.
I say, let Twitter pay for the broadband in Iran.
-dZ.
I'm not sure I understand your point.
Many companies may have done this in the past, that is true; but the point is that you'd be hard pressed to find this kind of official tinkering support from a hardware company nowadays.
-dZ.
I seem to remember that IcePick was relentless, and I was able to freeze any game and snap its memory.
-dZ.
That is true. The indispensable "C=64 Advanced Programmer's Guide" included not only a complete Assembly Language reference and detailed memory and bus maps, but a fold-in schematic diagram of the entire machine.
-dZ.
In US keyboards, there's an @ there now.
The funny thing is, just like the other commenters, it seems like second nature to me too. I mean, I type normally on an modern US keyboard, but when I fired up a C=64 emulator for the very first time a few years ago, one of the first things I typed was:
LOAD"$",8
without missing a beat.
It was only a few minutes later that I noticed that there was no quotation-mark over the "2" key and that due to some freakish mental glitch, my fingers knew precisely where to go.
-dZ.
The article compares the current price of the iPhone with the introductory price of the C=64. A few years in (circa 1984), you could buy a C=64 from K-mart at $90.00 USD. This was convenience, since the cheap power supply tended to burn up and die, and it was sometimes easier and cheaper to just buy a replacement machine. I went through three of the things back then!
-dZ.
The only thing missing in there, is a virtual CPU, emulated in Emacs.
Try CTRL+[+P+X+1.
-dZ.