Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!decwrl!bacchus.pa.dec.com!granite.pa.dec.com!mwm From: mwm@raven.pa.dec.com (Mike (Real Amigas have keyboard garages) Meyer) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Too much computing is detrimental Message-ID: Date: 27 Jun 90 18:45:39 GMT References: <29256@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <25l4zrr@unify.uucp> <29318@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> <7723@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> Sender: news@wrl.dec.com (News) Distribution: na Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica Lines: 80 In-Reply-To: toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM's message of 26 Jun 90 19:05:14 GMT In article <7723@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM> toma@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM (Tom Almy) writes: Things computers are not useful for: [...] > Address book: Mine is written down. I used to have one of those. It was always full of post-it's and While-You-Were-Out memos with phone numbers on them. It was a pain to use. Then I moved the whole mess to a computerized database. Nothing fancy, just a central place to put all the numbers. No more post-its etc. all over the place. Everything is there, just a grep away. I can print a version to cram into my pockets whenever I need it; I can even print labels to slap into a rollodex. Even better, at work it was trivial to change the function that found names to check the online copies of the phone lists for my work group and for DECs Palo Alto Campus. If I ever want to print a form letter to some subset of that list - well, that's trivial. In short, I use the computer for what it's good and I'm lousy at - organizing and searching text. That doesn't prevent me from having a printed copy to take with me when I need it. Let's go on to the others.... > Calendar functions: in trouble if not by machine. I'm not a great fan of those. However, since I do most of my work at a machine, it's nice to have the calendar function open requesters to remind me of things I need to do. Further, I get announcements of meetings & the like through email, not paper-mail. So I've always got the calender handy when I need it for work. > Calculator functions: the latest PCTools has a calculator which mimics my > HP-16C. I'll continue to use my HP-16C, thank you! That calculator is pretty silly thing to have. On the other hand, having something that lets me cut numbers from a document I'm working on, crunch them some, and paste them back is much handier than any handheld calculator. Especially if it keeps a tape of calculations, and you can have all of that plus the document in front of you. > Other Databases: Take more time to enter the data than I'd ever spend > accessing the data. Depends a lot on what's there, and why. I have a database of a PD disk collection available for the Amiga. I spend _far_ more time looking for things in it than I do entering them. Of course, I've automated the data entry process to use the contents files on the disks, and I like to help people who ask questions like "How can I do X" or "Is there a utility to do X". Also, if you keep a copy of a database other than where what it catalogs is, then you can use that database for insurance purposes. In that case, the best of all possible results is that you never reference it. > Notepads: Postit Notes (tm), real paper and pencil, do a better job for > most things. True. About the only time I use the computer for such is when the data is already on the computer. Snapshotting a region of the screen for future reference, or possibly a hunk of text (depending on what I'm going to do with it later) can be handy. Hmm - looking back over this, it looks like most of your complaints are "you spend more time putting that stuff into the computer than you save once it's there", and most of my answers are "but that doesn't apply if the data is already on the computer." Perhaps there's something deeper in that...