5 ms·

It depends on what efficiency buys you, and what you trade efficiency for. When Windows was developed, we had enough CPU power to do the basic tasks people wan

It depends on what efficiency buys you, and what you trade efficiency for. When Windows was developed, we had enough CPU power to do the basic tasks people wanted done with a computer at a reasonable speed - the idea was that spare capacity was being traded for user friendliness. For some applications, even today, when maximum efficiency is necessary, purpose built machines ('soldering together the flip-flops that make up your logic and memory') are still used - it's just that it's often an ASIC that is fabricated.

jacquesm 10y ago
> When Windows was developed, we had enough CPU power to do the basic tasks people wanted done with a computer at a reasonable speed - the idea was that spare capacity was being traded for user friendliness. And in many cases that led to an instant drop in productivity. Those old green-screen systems were not pretty but they were quite efficient to use.
- braveo 10y ago
  I've actually witnessed a very large oil & gas company switch over from those old dos programs to a new win32 program, and to a man, every person who had any experience on the old system bitched about how much slower it was to get anything done. Having worked on the system myself, they were right (this was as a noobie to both systems). There is something to be said for a small, tight system.
  - digi_owl 10y ago
    Some time ago HN linked to a blog from a Norwegian tasked with mailing 3.5" floppies to doctors. This because the doctors insisted on using a DOS based patient journal, as they could operate it completely by keyboard while maintaining a conversation with the patient. I speculate that one reason for this is that DOS allowed each program to have full keyboard access, while Windows and other GUI has to reserve certain keys for managing the UI (switching between windows etc). Thus what was earlier a series of single key presses now involves holding down a modifier for the duration. And that is if the developer even remembered to put in a hotkey for said action.
    - ptaipale 10y ago
      You don't need the Windows reserved keys for anything with an application. You could make a fully keyboard operable UI for an application on Windows. It's just that software makers don't do it; most everyone thinks everyone loves to do things with mouse et al.
    - forgotpwtomain 10y ago
      Do you happen to have the link to this blog handy? I'd be interested in reading it.
      - digi_owl 10y ago
        You got me digging, so here is the HN discussion about it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10287889 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10287889

jacquesm 10y ago

> When Windows was developed, we had enough CPU power to do the basic tasks people wanted done with a computer at a reasonable speed - the idea was that spare capacity was being traded for user friendliness. And in many cases that led to an instant drop in productivity. Those old green-screen systems were not pretty but they were quite efficient to use.

braveo 10y ago
I've actually witnessed a very large oil & gas company switch over from those old dos programs to a new win32 program, and to a man, every person who had any experience on the old system bitched about how much slower it was to get anything done. Having worked on the system myself, they were right (this was as a noobie to both systems). There is something to be said for a small, tight system.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  Some time ago HN linked to a blog from a Norwegian tasked with mailing 3.5" floppies to doctors. This because the doctors insisted on using a DOS based patient journal, as they could operate it completely by keyboard while maintaining a conversation with the patient. I speculate that one reason for this is that DOS allowed each program to have full keyboard access, while Windows and other GUI has to reserve certain keys for managing the UI (switching between windows etc). Thus what was earlier a series of single key presses now involves holding down a modifier for the duration. And that is if the developer even remembered to put in a hotkey for said action.
  - ptaipale 10y ago
    You don't need the Windows reserved keys for anything with an application. You could make a fully keyboard operable UI for an application on Windows. It's just that software makers don't do it; most everyone thinks everyone loves to do things with mouse et al.
  - forgotpwtomain 10y ago
    Do you happen to have the link to this blog handy? I'd be interested in reading it.
    - digi_owl 10y ago
      You got me digging, so here is the HN discussion about it. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10287889 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10287889