🚀 go-pugleaf

Steve Sheldon (sheldon@iastate.edu) wrote:
: In <GERHARD.GRUBER.95Jun20112636@atusel16.aut.alcatel.at> Gerhard.Gruber@aut.alcatel.at (Gerhard Gruber) writes:

: >As long as Microsoft Products will be sold there is no need to write
: >either good, fast, small, stable software.

:  I think that you will find that those programs which take up 50 Megs of RAM
: on todays computer do CONSIDERABLY more than their counterparts 15 years ago
: running on a 64K RAM system with a 180K floppy, or even 5 years ago with 1
: meg of ram, and a 40 meg harddrive.

Hear, hear.  I hear all this crap from people like "I've got 1000 times more
memory than 10 years ago, how come everything isn't 1000 better ?".  Or, "The
CPU runs 100 times faster, why can't I do things 100 times faster" ?  It's
hard to quantify *functionality* like this.  Could you play DOOM at 35 frames
per second 10 years ago ? No way.  Could any $4000 computer calculate complex
air-flow models ? na-ah.  Okay, so the size of the OS might grow from 32 Kb
to 2 Mb, but think of all the things you could never, ever,ever not in your
wildest dreams do 10 years ago.  Everything fast used to have to be written 
in assembly language.  It's really hard to build useful,complex and large 
systems like this.

Of course I still think that many Mickeyslut products have grown larger much
faster than anything else without that much added functionality (Wind0ze,
"Bob", Word, etc.).

:  The availability of storage space and raw speed has made it possible to do
: things that before would have never been considered.

-Eric

--
"I'm a smarty everyday!"- Beanie the Cerebrally-challenged bison, Animaniacs
   Eric van Bezooijen     | "Faboo!"- Wakko Warner, Animaniacs [Warlord *THIS*]
 eric@csua.berkeley.edu   | "Oh joy of Joys!"- Stimpson J. Cat, Ren & Stimpy
eric.vanbezooijen@sun.com | "Spoon!"- The Tick [Pixies and Talking Heads rule!]