From: dmhills{at}attglobal.net (Don Hills)

In article , "Tony Ingenoso"
 wrote:
>In terms of real life bankable productivity gains, I'm not convinced
>anything since about the 486 and Win31 or OS/2 has actually made ordinary
>users more productive in meaningful ways.

I'm typing this on a 486 running OS/2. It's snappy enough to be a pleasant
experience. (Snappy as in screen updating and response to commands etc.)

>The software has gotten slower about as fast as the hardware has gotten
>faster ;->

I have a 300 MHz machine with Office XP on it. It is not pleasant to use. I
keep it only for dealing with Microsoft documents sent to me. (I could use
Open Office but this machine was given to me ready to use. That beats
having to build one, then install Linux and apps...)

I have the feeling of waiting for the next paradigm shift - some new way of
working that will sweep away the old, bloated, creeping featuritis ridden
apps we use now. I see it in apps that I write for myself and others - over
time they get bigger and slower as I add features and function, along with
the compromises made to keep backwards compatability when required.
Eventually I just spit the dummy and redesign the app from the ground up.
With a fresh approach and keeping only the features that are actually used,
the app becomes a pleasure to use again.

--
Don Hills    (dmhills at attglobaldotnet)     Wellington, New Zealand
"New interface closely resembles Presentation Manager,
 preparing you for the wonders of OS/2!"
    -- Microsoft advertisement on the box for Windows 2.11 for 286

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