[extropy-chat] Software exposure: was Re: Eugen Leitl, you got Klez

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Eugen Leitl <eugen at leitl.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 10, 2004 at 11:57:34AM +0000, BillK wrote:
>  
> > But back then I don't remember it as being the way you describe.
> > Computer enthusiasts hacked away on the DOS command line. The mass
> 
> Computer enthusiasts also hacked on *nix and CP/M command line, way
> before. There was also Lisp, Apple and C= command lines, which
> actually came with Basic & more.

While I was hacking away on DOS with BASIC in 1980-81, the Apple kids
up the road in Hanover were doing Pascal programming on their IIc's.

> 
> > market would not exist until a GUI and more powerful CPUs arrived.
> 
> Xerox did WIMP in 1970s. Lisp machines later on. Then came Lisa, and
> the Mac, and the Commodore Amiga. A GUI doesn't take more than a 4 
> MHz 68000.

No, it doesn't. Not a basic one, anyways. Xerox is to this day still
using WIMP on its Docutech ODP systems. I wouldn't want to do my daily
computing in the environment, though.

Now, my first Windows grade PC was a 12 Mhz 386 running 3.1. Thought it
was much better than my friends 4 MHz 286 running Win 3.0. That was
when RAM cost $100/meg and 100 MB hard drives were hot.

What would it take to put modern networking and memory handling
capabilities in something like Win 3.1?
> 
> > Businesses already had terminals connected to mainframes for
> timesharing
> > and multi-tasking.
> > The 'new' PCs were stand-alone office toys for a bit of
> word-processing,
> > spread-sheets and games.
> 
> Yeah, if one didn't bother to go to the library, that was computing.
> 
> > TCP/IP? Do you remember the first 2400 bps modems and BBS systems?
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > Only enthusiasts bothered.
> 
> I didn't. My open source at the time was from Fred Fish, and came via
> mail
> and copying sessions.
>  
> > By the way, when I said that MS had now added security as an
> objective,
> > my reference to 'too late' implied that they would fail in this
> > objective. MS requires yet another redesign and upgrades for
> everyone.
> > No surprise there, then.
> 
> Redmond seems to try to move to a subscription model, because the
> customers
> no nonger accept periodic asset abandoment due to sacrificial
> shedding of
> current codebase. I'm not sure they'll manage to do it on time to
> save their
> crumbling revenue model. We should really be thankful for
> availability of
> alternatives, preventing us from being stuck with a stagnant
> monopoly.
> 
> -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a>
> ______________________________________________________________
> ICBM: 48.07078, 11.61144            http://www.leitl.org
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> http://moleculardevices.org         http://nanomachines.net
> 

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=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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