Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc! From: lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: Reality check: Amiga coverage is not a right, but a privilege Message-ID: <2414@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> Date: 15 Dec 90 10:55:30 GMT Lines: 74 Return-Path: To: van-bc!rnews In <1990Dec15.013810.18546@maytag.waterloo.edu>, giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere) writes: >In article <2408@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca> lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) writes: > >I'm not inured... but I see a lot of people around me doing a lot of useful >work without multitasking... I am always amused when I set up a workstation for a customer who is used to the 'IBM Way Of Doing Things'. It's a real pleasure to watch as they slowly catch on to the different mindset inherent in a multitasking environent. "You mean I can do this while the other one is still running?" The usual reaction initially is to look for things to do that _will_ take some time; that will use the ability. Later, it becomes a matter of habit. They develop a completely different outlook toward work to be performed, and think nothing of juggling 4, 5, 6, or more windows, some involving simple task switching, some involving simultaneous running. I know few who can stomach going back to a machine that will only switch focus and not run more than one thing at a time. >Actually, I don't know many people who have modems, nor do many modem >transfers. Those that do have modems use it mainly for interactive use. The proliferation of BBSes and the plummeting prices of modems, are making the modem a lot more common. An informal survey of the audience at a Panorama meeting a couple of years ago showed about 80% had modems. I don't know how many people I have talked into buying a modem, simply by pointing out that it is the simplest and least time consuming way of obtaining the software the hear about. >As for rendering... I don't think that the average person runs those type >of programs either! (Average != Usenet readers) We have a graphics SIG in Panorama that is easily the most attended SIG. Graphics questions abound. Perhaps it isn't something the average user does, but consider that the Amiga is noted as an excellent low cost graphics platform, so the percentage will be higher than on many other platforms (how many PET owners did raytracing?). Additionally, the multitasking ability of the Amiga is conducive to CPU intensive graphics work. People who would otherwise not bother, will do a raytrace or create a scene or generate a Mandelbrot picture in the background, simply because it does not detract from the use of the machine for other, more interactive operations. >>You are right though, in one way. Nobody NEEDS multitasking, but then nobody >>needs a windowing interface, or a mouse, or a CLI, or speed, or a lot of >>memory, or for that matter, a computer. They are all things that are optional, >>but like all optional things, having them can be fun, or productive, or >>profitable, and so on. > >True. But when you're working with something as brain-damaged as MS-DOS, >multitasking can have serious limitations. I mean, with only a 640K limit >it's hard to find two programs that are small enough to reside in memory >at the same time... there are ways to get around this (use those weird >memory expansion schemes, page to disk, etc.) but they're all kludges. >"So get a 386"... well, we have to deal with schools and such that still >have 512K original PCs! 'Tain't so easy, I'm afraid... Well, I'm not working with the braindamaged machines, and for precisely the reasons you mentioned. As with any advancement in computing, multitasking and graphic user interfaces take more resources and horsepower to implement in a usable way. Sure, there are a lot of machines out there that bog down when you try to use them in the new ways, but you and I know that they are on the way out. Hardware becomes cheaper and better. People Like Us need to show People Like Them what multitasking is all about. Eventually, they'll catch on. -larry -- The best way to accelerate an MsDos machine is at 32 ft/sec/sec. +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+