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=== Overview "Computers" -- an astoundingly popular collection of new products? Yes. "Changes everything"? No. Computer are new and popular? Yes, and at one

by nekopa 11y ago

=== Overview "Computers" -- an astoundingly popular collection of new products? Yes. "Changes everything"? No. Computer are new and popular? Yes, and at one time in the US so were tacos. New and popular is not nearly the same as changing everything. === Use a Computer? Could I use a computer to buy write a novel? Yes. Would I? Very definitely, no! Why not? (1) If the media is a floppy disk instead of a piece of paper, no thanks. Why? Because with a piece of paper and a sheet of carbon copy, I get to keep a copy of the relevant pages I type. And I very much want to keep that data for the future. (2) Want to keep those copies of pages on a computing device? Not a chance. Why? Because for such data, I want my typewriter with its hardware and paper. I want the special correction ribbons, my editor his many years of experience, and my means of finding things in the file cabinet. My typewriter also gives me a good keyboard, a good (and built in) printer, a mechanical freedom from power (I don't want to keep close to power outlets -- in fact, my writing desk is not even close to any outlets), ability for anyone with a pair of eyes to read/write on my work without needing a whole computer of their own, backup via Xerox and offsite backup via fax, etc. Do I want to backup to tape? Not a chance. I backup to local acid free archival quality paper. Why? Because for tape backup, money, a new hardware, power concerns, spooks, and technicians could get involved. === Business My business is a writing books. I'm developing them on my typewriter, and each page goes live as soon as I finish the page. PC readers of my books? Sure: My pages will look and work exactly the same on any pair of eyes, even with a pair glasses hundreds of years old. === New Business for Microsoft et al. It sounds like Microsoft likes computers because for millions of businesses MS-DOS will run their first computer and it's new and popular. Okay, then, Microsoft, here's another business you should like -- coffee. Also, of course, just from the OP, paperclips. No way should we forget -- salt. Okay, of course -- sugar. Sure, one more -- toilet paper. Naw, got to have one more, plastic knives, forks, spoons, and drinking cups. Not to forget -- sell them service level agreements for their computers. Maybe even backup word processing software for their computers! Especially for Microsoft, got to have one more -- sure, Kool Aid. === Summary A means to write is the most important tool in my life. Currently my typewriter is my means of writing. A computer most definitely does not replace my typewriter. Actually, at present I have no use for a computer, a radio, or a television and, so, have none. Actually some years ago a friend gave me a computer. Once I turned it on, and some complicated dialog came up about my reading some End User License Agreement and sending my first born child to someone named Steve. I turned the thing off and haven't turned it back on since. Or, my typewriter has a network effect: It has made all my writing and means of entering, storing, processing, communicating, and viewing data, universal to any literate sighted person. A computer cannot be that one place, and, due to the network effect, I don't want to split off some of my data into a immobile silo, tethered to a power socket and only able to communicate with people who have also sent their first born to Steve (if they sent their first born to Bill instead - no deal). === Denouement This post was written, spell checked, etc. with my favorite mechanical typewriter, using my favorite spell checker (The OED, hardback) on my writing desk, and no way would I have wanted to have done this post on a computer and then try to figure out how to plug it into the power and the phone socket. Instead the page went live on the notice board of my local library where people from all walks of life can easily view it.

graycat 11y ago
Good comparison. But I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation just as daisy wheel printers were becoming popular. Then there was no doubt: I typed my dissertation into a text editor on a computer (I was from my non-academic work already really good with those two tools) and printed it out on a daisy wheel printer. That approach was much better than a typewriter because of the accuracy (I have horrible aptitude as a typist and desperately need the power of a text editor and computer to make corrections), the speed (could get a new copy at 30 characters per second), and could make revisions quickly and easily, and I made a lot of revisions before I handed in a copy. Then for a prof I had to add a few words of clarification to a paragraph -- did that, printed the whole thing again, and returned the result to him on paper in 24 hours. Yes, the only place I could do that word processing was at my office, but that was still better than my typewriter at home. More generally, one of the most important uses of computers has been for document preparation, and that is still a big need, if only for a post at HN where I'd much rather have my computer than a smartphone. I might have become a tenured prof, but the main bottleneck was just getting my academic mathematical word whacking done. Net, I couldn't do it. Flatly. No way. The word processing group of the university I was in couldn't do it. I couldn't do it with just a typewriter. Halt. Full stop. Doing the academic research? Fun and easy. Writing up the math? The same. Getting the typing done? Just impossible. Now I can do mathematical academic word processing with my good set up on my PC of D. Knuth's TeX, etc. For the last paper I published, after I gave up on being a prof, I used TeX -- it worked great. But, sure, a smartphone wouldn't help with TeX. TeX on a smartphone? F'get about it. Net, a PC is a great tool, for many things, e.g., nearly all of document preparation, much better than a typewriter, even though a typewriter has some advantages as you point out. For nearly all of document preparation, the extra cost, complexity, etc. of a PC are very much worth it. Really, net, PCs replaced typewriters. So far I have no use for a smartphone. One reason is that I stay at my PC working on my startup. My phone is right here, with its signal running through my PC's FAX modem card so that I can use my text editor to find and dial phone numbers -- also save phone numbers. In time a mobile device may replace a PC. But need: (1) A good replacement for a keyboard. Maybe voice or brain waves would work if can reduce the detailed complexity of much of current keyboard input, e.g., HTML and CSS markup. (2) A good replacement for a mouse, and a finger on a screen is not good enough. (3) A way to view output much better than a small screen. Sure, may be able to use some special glasses. Sure, if 3D is to play a big role, then special glasses may be the way. (4) Appropriate versions of, or replacements for, a lot of crucial PC software, e.g., my favorite text editor, Knuth's TeX, PDF writers, lots of old programming languages, libraries, source code, etc. I have a lot of such I very much do not want to be without. (5) Backup, say, to the cloud, that can trust enough to replace tape, writable DVDs, external USB hard drives, etc. Lawyers are a biggie threat. (6) Have enough trust in the Internet finally to depend on it nearly totally. (7) Solid solutions for the many, severe security threats of mobile devices. (8) A way to get data to replace getting data just by saving Web pages. E.g., when I shop for or buy things on the Internet, I want to keep the associated Web pages. Sure, maybe (1)-(8) will come. E.g., for storage, maybe some of nanowires, what HP is doing, etc. will mean that all my storage can be in little cubes, about the size of a sugar cube, I can write and store in my side desk drawer, also on the Internet in case of fire. Also stick under the insulation on the floor of the attic where no way can lawyers find it. But, just for now, biggies are some comparatively simple things -- keyboard, mouse, screen, laser printer, DVD R/W, and a few more. E.g., I still use my laser printer for some crucial things. Indeed, I still keep my daisy wheel printer as the best way to address envelopes for USPS -- they are still in business, not yet totally replaced by the Internet. Here's another thought: PCs are here and so far there is nothing to replace them. But as it slowly becomes possible to replace PCs, they will be replaced not by mobile devices but slowly by a sequence of incrementally better PCs, some of which might have form factor and power requirements to permit being mobile. Over time, maybe it will be possible to replace PCs. Sure, Windows XP replaced Windows 3.1 and PC/DOS -- that was incremental as I believe the replacement for a PC will be. In strong contrast, smartphones and other mobile devices won't replace PCs, at least not for a while. Look, A16Z, there are some uses for smartphones: Teenage girls are genetically compelled to gossip, 24 x 7 if they can, so need at least cell phones. Nearly everyone who works from a panel truck wants at least a cell phone. Cell phones are a good replacement for the radios that taxicabs used to use, and now smartphone are crucial to Uber, etc. But for the billions of smartphone users, the reason was simpler: It was much cheaper just to put up cell towers than to lay copper cable. Ergo, smartphones instead of land lines. But don't expect that several billion people in mud huts will be using their smartphones to order four feet wide TVs from Amazon. With some irony, as the Internet improves, the need to move around will lessen and, then, so will the desirability of being mobile. Or, having two locations, one at home, and one more at an office, and driving between the two, is a bummer -- waste time, money, and energy. Being mobile is often a bummer.

by nekopa 11y ago

graycat 11y ago

Good comparison. But I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation just as daisy wheel printers were becoming popular. Then there was no doubt: I typed my dissertation into a text editor on a computer (I was from my non-academic work already really good with those two tools) and printed it out on a daisy wheel printer. That approach was much better than a typewriter because of the accuracy (I have horrible aptitude as a typist and desperately need the power of a text editor and computer to make corrections), the speed (could get a new copy at 30 characters per second), and could make revisions quickly and easily, and I made a lot of revisions before I handed in a copy. Then for a prof I had to add a few words of clarification to a paragraph -- did that, printed the whole thing again, and returned the result to him on paper in 24 hours. Yes, the only place I could do that word processing was at my office, but that was still better than my typewriter at home. More generally, one of the most important uses of computers has been for document preparation, and that is still a big need, if only for a post at HN where I'd much rather have my computer than a smartphone. I might have become a tenured prof, but the main bottleneck was just getting my academic mathematical word whacking done. Net, I couldn't do it. Flatly. No way. The word processing group of the university I was in couldn't do it. I couldn't do it with just a typewriter. Halt. Full stop. Doing the academic research? Fun and easy. Writing up the math? The same. Getting the typing done? Just impossible. Now I can do mathematical academic word processing with my good set up on my PC of D. Knuth's TeX, etc. For the last paper I published, after I gave up on being a prof, I used TeX -- it worked great. But, sure, a smartphone wouldn't help with TeX. TeX on a smartphone? F'get about it. Net, a PC is a great tool, for many things, e.g., nearly all of document preparation, much better than a typewriter, even though a typewriter has some advantages as you point out. For nearly all of document preparation, the extra cost, complexity, etc. of a PC are very much worth it. Really, net, PCs replaced typewriters. So far I have no use for a smartphone. One reason is that I stay at my PC working on my startup. My phone is right here, with its signal running through my PC's FAX modem card so that I can use my text editor to find and dial phone numbers -- also save phone numbers. In time a mobile device may replace a PC. But need: (1) A good replacement for a keyboard. Maybe voice or brain waves would work if can reduce the detailed complexity of much of current keyboard input, e.g., HTML and CSS markup. (2) A good replacement for a mouse, and a finger on a screen is not good enough. (3) A way to view output much better than a small screen. Sure, may be able to use some special glasses. Sure, if 3D is to play a big role, then special glasses may be the way. (4) Appropriate versions of, or replacements for, a lot of crucial PC software, e.g., my favorite text editor, Knuth's TeX, PDF writers, lots of old programming languages, libraries, source code, etc. I have a lot of such I very much do not want to be without. (5) Backup, say, to the cloud, that can trust enough to replace tape, writable DVDs, external USB hard drives, etc. Lawyers are a biggie threat. (6) Have enough trust in the Internet finally to depend on it nearly totally. (7) Solid solutions for the many, severe security threats of mobile devices. (8) A way to get data to replace getting data just by saving Web pages. E.g., when I shop for or buy things on the Internet, I want to keep the associated Web pages. Sure, maybe (1)-(8) will come. E.g., for storage, maybe some of nanowires, what HP is doing, etc. will mean that all my storage can be in little cubes, about the size of a sugar cube, I can write and store in my side desk drawer, also on the Internet in case of fire. Also stick under the insulation on the floor of the attic where no way can lawyers find it. But, just for now, biggies are some comparatively simple things -- keyboard, mouse, screen, laser printer, DVD R/W, and a few more. E.g., I still use my laser printer for some crucial things. Indeed, I still keep my daisy wheel printer as the best way to address envelopes for USPS -- they are still in business, not yet totally replaced by the Internet. Here's another thought: PCs are here and so far there is nothing to replace them. But as it slowly becomes possible to replace PCs, they will be replaced not by mobile devices but slowly by a sequence of incrementally better PCs, some of which might have form factor and power requirements to permit being mobile. Over time, maybe it will be possible to replace PCs. Sure, Windows XP replaced Windows 3.1 and PC/DOS -- that was incremental as I believe the replacement for a PC will be. In strong contrast, smartphones and other mobile devices won't replace PCs, at least not for a while. Look, A16Z, there are some uses for smartphones: Teenage girls are genetically compelled to gossip, 24 x 7 if they can, so need at least cell phones. Nearly everyone who works from a panel truck wants at least a cell phone. Cell phones are a good replacement for the radios that taxicabs used to use, and now smartphone are crucial to Uber, etc. But for the billions of smartphone users, the reason was simpler: It was much cheaper just to put up cell towers than to lay copper cable. Ergo, smartphones instead of land lines. But don't expect that several billion people in mud huts will be using their smartphones to order four feet wide TVs from Amazon. With some irony, as the Internet improves, the need to move around will lessen and, then, so will the desirability of being mobile. Or, having two locations, one at home, and one more at an office, and driving between the two, is a bummer -- waste time, money, and energy. Being mobile is often a bummer.