Computer Advances

From: Sam Ismail <dastar_at_crl.com>
Date: Fri Jul 18 12:48:25 1997

On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Mr. Self Destruct wrote:

>
> On Fri, 18 Jul 1997, Sam Ismail wrote:
>
> > Um, the Internet is not a fad. The Internet is the new paradigm for
> > business and society. The Internet is, perhaps not a quantum leap, but
> > it is a humongous leap for mankind. A fad? Hardly.
>
> Although I think describing the Internet with the word "fad" *might* be a
> bit harsh, I think it *Might* lose it's luster pretty soon. It IS good
> for the information gathering/distributing type of thing but a lot of the
> Internet is just crap. Kinda like TV "'cept different"

When I first got onto the net, the first thing I found out was that it is
most useful for e-mail. I tried IRC, I tried Usenet, I tried a couple
other things, and eventually I found myself paying $19.95 a month for
e-mail. I don't think that is much value. Maybe $20 a year would have
been worth it, but not per month. For probably 18 months all I had was
text-based access. I finally upgraded to a PPP account a few months ago,
and was expecting to see all sorts of cool stuff. I wasn't disappointed
in that respect...I did see lots of cool stuff. Was it worth the $24.95
a month I now had to pay? No. Maybe, again $25 a year.

But all in all I find the Internet to be EXTREMELY valuable. Where else
can I go to find 200 zealots who collect classic computers to get
information about a particularly obscure piece of hardware and get an
answer to my questions usually within 24 hours?

I can get technical documentation for the stuff I use at work, including
application notes, hardware references, troubleshooting information, etc.
whenever I want, 24 hours a day, and I don't have to wait on hold for 30
minutes to an hour, and its free. Sure I would prefer to talk to some
live dolt, simply because its easier to just have the answer given to me
rather than having to search it out, and my time is better spent doing
work rather than scrounging around for information, although admittedly
the on-hold wait and the time I would spend searching out the info I need
is a wash.

I can buy/sell stuff on the net and have a world-wide marketbase. I can
do this by paying $24.95 a month. Try doing that before the Internet
became a viable public medium. You'd have to be a large corporation or
have lots of money.

I can send data, programs, pictures, basically information to colleagues
anywhere in the world practically and do it simply by just e-mailing it
to them. Before this would require one side to have a BBS or both
parties to schedule a time to connect to each other with modems to do the
exchange.

I can dig up information on zip codes, find maps to places I need to go,
find restaurants, find people, getting shipping costs for packages I send
out, I can e-mail a diatribe to the President of the United States of
America.

Basically, it is truly information at your fingertips (almost) instantly.
Constantly updated, constantly growing, alive.

I just realized this has practically nothing to do with classic computers
and I apologize.

Sam
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Computer Historian, Programmer, Musician, Philosopher, Athlete, Writer, Jackass
Received on Fri Jul 18 1997 - 12:48:25 BST