Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!rutgers!att!mtuxo!mtgzz!drutx!dht
From: dht@drutx.ATT.COM (D. Tucker)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Walkman computers
Message-ID: <10131@drutx.ATT.COM>
Date: 30 Jan 89 00:18:09 GMT
References: <8932@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <8901191651.AA10945@pinocchio.UUCP> <380@banyan.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO
Lines: 34

In article <380@banyan.UUCP>, gordon@banyan.UUCP (Gordon Lee@Eng@Banyan) writes:
> >In article <8901191651.AA10945@pinocchio.UUCP> bzs@pinocchio.encore.com (Barry Shein) writes:
> >Personally I've never seen the attraction of portable computers, I
> >don't often get the urge to write a program on a bus or plane,

When I was a cockroach programmer, I took my time and yes, I did every-
thing that a structured designer does to _not_ make mistakes in Compil-
ed Basic. I tested my systems and wrote a three-hundred page manual for
my users. I jot my ideas on paper and then dwell on them. The hardware
I was dealing with was Radio Shack, and then after that the first IBM
PC before Compaq. I dislike extremely Dbase II and VisiCalc and all its
versions. I travelled all through the South, Texas, New Mexico, and even
Wyoming working for a major construction company. 

> Portables aren't sold to programmers, most of them are sold to travelling
> salesmen and other mobile service oriented workers who use them strictly
> to run turnkey applications.

I agree w/ your estimation, only exception is field engineers with
major telecommunications equipment, who can do wonders with a portable
PC w/ a hard disk.

> It opened my eyes to what has been the real driving force behind the PC/MS-DOS
> market.  The business market (the masses) does not mind spending what to me 
> seem like exorbitant prices for very simple (yet adequate) levels of 
> technology.  Price a product for its perceived value, not its intrinsic value!

Ah, there's the rub. To paraphrase Frank Zappa, 'most Americans wouldn't
know a good software package if it bit them in the ass.' I agree w/ your
estimate of what software prices should be, the only thing is, the masses
steal software like a bandit! They can buy $5.95 programs that will copy
disks beyond number...

Davis Tucker @ Bell Labs Denver