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"Computing?" Now that's a term I haven't heard in a long time. Who does computing outside of data center? I'm typing this on a laptop right now, but I wouldn't

"Computing?" Now that's a term I haven't heard in a long time. Who does computing outside of data center? I'm typing this on a laptop right now, but I wouldn't say I do any "computing" on it. Even at work, I would say that the actually amount of "computing" I'm responsible for (i.e. a program I specifically wrote to calculate some number.) is very low compared to simply text editing, web surfing, and music playing. Throwing around this archaic and ill defined term, and then dismissing the phone as "a media consumption device" strikes me as elitist and out of touch. Is photography consumption? Clearly not, since it's production. Is media editing consumption? No. Is it computing? Well given that nonlinear digital video editors were big expensive machines several years ago, I'd say so, unless of course we're moving the bar. Is writing computing? 30 years ago it was. Do people actually write on their phones? Yes. Oh communication doesn't count? How about term papers? Do they do that? Yes, they do.[0] I think you need to reexamine your biases. [0] http://www.wsj.com/articles/look-mom-im-writing-a-term-paper-on-my-smartphone-1455729046 http://www.wsj.com/articles/look-mom-im-writing-a-term-paper...

flukus 10y ago
Fair enough, it's an bad term. What I mean is instructing the computer to do something for them, not having to manually perform every action themselves. The sorts of things people do in excel but in a more automated way. As for what phones are capable of, I'm aware. But they are the wrong tool for the job. For the most part the are walled gardens where the only things you can do are what some app developer thought you might like to do. The industry is stuck in a regressive state where we are trying to limit users, not empower them.
- onion2k 10y ago
  But they are the wrong tool for the job. They're the wrong tool for the job of creating and managing files in a filesystem. They're not the wrong tool for writing a Google Doc, or updating a Facebook status, or taking a photo and uploading it to Instagram. Arguing that we need to teach users paradigms like a command line is out of touch with what computers are to most people today. We should be making tools that work with the way people use computers, not making users work at learning the tools we build.
  - flukus 10y ago
    You mean teaching them to be completely reliant on cloud services to make silicon valley "entrepreneurs" rich. That isn't empowering users, it's enslaving them.

flukus 10y ago

Fair enough, it's an bad term. What I mean is instructing the computer to do something for them, not having to manually perform every action themselves. The sorts of things people do in excel but in a more automated way. As for what phones are capable of, I'm aware. But they are the wrong tool for the job. For the most part the are walled gardens where the only things you can do are what some app developer thought you might like to do. The industry is stuck in a regressive state where we are trying to limit users, not empower them.

onion2k 10y ago
But they are the wrong tool for the job. They're the wrong tool for the job of creating and managing files in a filesystem. They're not the wrong tool for writing a Google Doc, or updating a Facebook status, or taking a photo and uploading it to Instagram. Arguing that we need to teach users paradigms like a command line is out of touch with what computers are to most people today. We should be making tools that work with the way people use computers, not making users work at learning the tools we build.
- flukus 10y ago
  You mean teaching them to be completely reliant on cloud services to make silicon valley "entrepreneurs" rich. That isn't empowering users, it's enslaving them.