Date   : Sun, 24 Jul 2011 02:43:13
From   : robert@... (Rob)
Subject: [BeebSoc] Re: Risc PC (Was 'Minitel in France')

On 23 July 2011 23:26, Rick Murray <rick@...> wrote:
> Perhaps Acorn never really got over the BBC Micro and its educational
> successes? They never quite understood that increasing power meant that
> fewer people were bothering to learn how/why. Consider the Beeb, the MOS
> is something one person alone could understand. They could, if they
> wanted, roll their own. I wouldn't be surprised if people such as JGH
> didn't have a half-written replacement MOS they began as a rainy day
> project out of a mixture of boredom and curiosity.

Indeed. I know the Model B inside out.  Back in the day, I got part
way through writing a full multi-user multi-tasking OS for B&2P.
(With multiple console sessions supported, via termnial emulation
connecting across econet.)

>
> To this end, while the Beeb was aimed at a generation of kids who wanted
> to get inside the machine (at my school, I wasn't the only person who
> knew 6502, and I wasn't the best at it either - though with an opcode
> chart blutack'd to the wall behind my bunk, I was probably the
> geekiest). However in the '90s the world split into two. The geek camp
> who didn't mind that the Slackware book started with instructions on
> compiling your own kernel (yes, chapter one page one!). The rest went
> Windows (pedestrian) or Mac (pompous) for a machine that they could use
> with minimal grief. I suppose the artefact of constantly rebooting for
> driver changes in Win16 is a hang-over of the fact that there isn't a
> lot of management needed other than periodic defrags.

I donated a beeb to the local primary school around 91-92 because they
were still using them.  Year or so later, they fitted out a new
Computer Room, with a nice network of Fujitsu PCs, so they could teach
the kids how to use MS Publisher ..?!!

I know that at that age Beebs were probably only a tool to run simple
programs, but there was a definite transition around that time from
leaning *about* computers to learning *how to use* computers (i.e.
Microsoft Office)

>
> Put it like this. It work we're tossing Windows and going Ubuntu. There
> are two types of people in the company. Those who were taught what a
> spreadsheet is, and those who were taught Excel.
> The first lot adapted to Linux and, IIRC, OpenOffice, in no time. Those
> taught Excel have come completely unstuck as the Ubuntu version doesn't
> look and feel *exactly* like Excel.

One of my relatives needed a new PC a while back, and whilst shopping
about for them, came across a package that included a linux variant
that fitted within their budget nicely.  After a little bit of
confusion, as things were in different places, they settled into it
quite easily.  For web browsing and some letter-writing, it was
absolutely fine.  In fact, it's been far better - they were the sort
that were catching (Windows) viruses every other month, needing me to
go sort it out...



> How does this relate to Acorn? Simple. More and more, people wanted
> computers that "does stuff". It was led by the desktop revolution (does
> it do Word? does it do Photoshop?) but is more and more led by the
> on-line revolution (does it do Facebook? does it do eBay?) [note, also,
> the implicit suggestion of the dumbing-down of humanity]

Indeed. Computers are no longer for nerds, enthusiasts or hobbyists.
They are just tools.  I think the proof of this is the Dell TV
adverts.  See any specifications anywhere?  Nope; but you can have
different coloured lids - that's what's important to the current
generation!


>
> Search: InPhone
>
>
> I meant THIS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE3k1yHk5Fs
>
> That's quite a bizarre and spectacular advert for... a new sort of phone
> socket. I guess anything rolled in the eighties. ;-)

I read this last night, and was humming "I'm in with the In-phone" all
night, and I haven't even watched the video yet!!!  The power of
advertising...
(watched it)
Yes, I was right.  This was from the day when BT were transitioning
people from hard-wired rented telephones to sockets where you could
buy any phone you like (hence the shot of lots of different styles at
the end).

Have you seen all the "It's for yooooooooouuuuu" ads yet?


> Because a machine told them to. Ummm...? [dumbing down, I swear it!]
>
> See also: http://xkcd.com/906/

And :  "But I read it on the Internet" ...   (I think some people have
finally learned not to trust newspapers 100%...)


Rob.