Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cbmvax!daveh
From: daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: What to send and what not to send to the CCCP
Message-ID: <5829@cbmvax.UUCP>
Date: 26 Jan 89 23:39:32 GMT
References: <215@imspw6.UUCP>
Organization: Commodore Technology, West Chester, PA
Lines: 28

in article <215@imspw6.UUCP>, bob@imspw6.UUCP (Bob Burch) says:

> It strikes me funny that the one thing which IS legal to send to our brethren
> back in the CCCP is the common little 12 mh AT clone, demonstrably the
> best computer which has ever existed for at least 90% of all uses.  

The _only_ thing that makes an AT clone a useful computer is the availability
of software.  And there's undeniably a vast amount of software that'll run
on it, even if 95% of this software runs in 8088 emulation mode.  

From a systems point of view, the '286 is exactly the CPU I'd make available
to someone I'm trying to confuse about programming, etc.  That includes
Z-80s and 6502s.  Maybe there's a big mainframe that presents a worse 
programming model, and those old RCA 1802 chips may run a close second, but,
really, this '286 thing is one kludge on top of another.  

It's usefulness to Soviet programmers in the great scheme of things is 
probably best measured by the matrix of how much PC software is in Russian
and how many of them know English.  If they can use much of the software
that's around for it, they'll get far.  But no matter how many times you
reinvent the wheel, if that wheel's designed to fit a Ford Model T, you're
probably just better off looking for a real car to design wheels for.


-- 
Dave Haynie  "The 32 Bit Guy"     Commodore-Amiga  "The Crew That Never Rests"
   {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh      PLINK: D-DAVE H     BIX: hazy
              Amiga -- It's not just a job, it's an obsession