🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1993Jan7.010122.26609@eskimo.com> gregs@eskimo.com (Greg Sumner) writes:
>csullogg@cc4.crl.aecl.ca writes:
>>Question: Why did Windows only become popular recently?
>>Answer: Until recently, no PC was fast enough to run it effectively.
>
>On a similar note, I read a message a while back (I forget from whom)
>about a text editor for the PC that ran "considerably faster" than
>Tempus.
>
>This may be true, but only because the hardware was upgraded at a
>considerable expense.

Actually, no.  Epsilon Emacs runs considerably faster than Tempus on a
lowly 286/12, which is probably as slow as (of not slower than) the
8Mhz 68000 in the ST.  Epsilon is also programmable in C, lets you edit
multi-megabyte files quickly and easily, and just generally impresses
the hell out of me.  It's a programming marvel -- proof that even
Intel-clone sellouts can write kick-butt code.  (And you thought they
were all mindless drones, didn't you?)

Faster than Tempus on a 286/12, yup.  But you should see it run on a
486/33!

:)

>...286...
>Did it do everything you needed it to do?  Pretty much.  So why do you
>now need a minimum 4 megs, windows, and a large hard disk just to have
>a system that will run the standard software?
>
>Microsoft is why.

Oh please.  MACH requires a lot more than that; are you going to blame
CMU for "forcing people to get more hardware?" The 286 won't run any
real operating systems (unless you count Xenix) because the chip isn't
capable of doing virutal memory without massive hackery.

If you don't like Windows, DON'T RUN IT.  I never use Windows.  I hate
it.  If I wanted a GUI I'd use a Mac; at least they have a decent one.
PC software that supports Windows always comes with a DOS interface
too.  You don't HAVE to have Windows.

>Why don't they build better software and quit relying on faster hardware?

Epsilon is an example of this better software.  Boycott Microsoft if
you don't like them, but don't take your hatred of them out on the
Intel machines themselves.

Dave Baggett
--
dmb@ai.mit.edu           MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory                  
ADVENTIONS: interactive fiction (text adventures) for the 90's!
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