🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1992Oct30.091849.29545@gagetalker.com> scotty@gagetalker.com (Scott Turner) writes:
>In article <BwuIGA.E2@atherton.com> dlw@atherton.com (Remo Williams) writes:
>|> Now you know how Cube owners with opticals feel.
>This is one station owner that still thinks the OD was a bad idea and that
>dropping it was a good idea.

Well, you can hardly be called unbiased. The OD was not a bad idea. The 
implementation (no HD) and the way it was dropped were very questionable.
People need to plan. Giving some notice is reasonable, and a timely (not
panicky) phase out of the OD would have been more reasonable. And, moreover,
a timely phase in to a 3.5" OD (SCSI) would have been even better.
>
>But the issue here isn't about speed, or amount of storage, the ADB keyboard
>is, for myself at least, a matter of survival. The ADB keyboard is a very nice
>step forward in not wracking up my fingers/hands/arms. And with ADB I am
>able to attach very comfortable pointing devices that don't hurt me when I
>use them. I've had numerous injuries from using keyboards/mice. I didn't
>think much of them at the time, I just limped along until my young body healed
>itself. But now I realize how important the design of the keyboard is in
>preventing these injuries. And how as I grow older these injuries will
>become increasingly more serious.

I'm happy with my current keyboard and mouse. ADB, or SVHS as it could be 
called, is nice. HP-IL is technically better, but ADB is a good move. The 
idea would be to keep your current installed base, and offering reasonable
upgrade paths make a lot of sense. The NeXT is not a throw away computer. This
is not the PC world (where even there upgradability now matters).
>
>I applaud NeXT for creating the ADB keyboard. Where I get irritated is over
>access to this wonderous device for my older mono slab, and for others to
>gain access to this device for their own color turbos. I've gotten plenty
>of e-mail from people who have been totally fluffed off by NeXT, even
>though they have color turbo's. And e-mail like that upsets me greatly,
>like I've written, mail like that has kept me up at night.
>
>As for the OD, wether cube owners got to keep using it or not had little
>impact on their physical well being. The ADB issue strikes at a physical
>well being issue that I think is far more important than _any_ issues that
>were ever raised over the OD.

When you link it to health than of course. I consider both important.
>
>And if you'd stop and think for a second you would realize that this ADB
>issue is a much better one to use to beat up on NeXT. You claim NeXT doesn't
>care about their customers because of the OD issue, well with this ADB
>issue the claim can be made that NeXT doesn't care about the health and
>welfare of their users. That perhaps they don't care that some of them may
>suffer injury from using their computers. That's a far more _damning_ item
>than their decision to drop the OD lead weight from around everyone's necks.

I think NeXT does care, but they probably are having a hard time dealing with
being caretakers to NS. Consequently, they often find themselves in over their
heads when it comes to details. I'm sure the ADB thing will sort itself out.
I wish I could say the same for the ND and the idea of MO's, but you never
know. There's only a finite amount of creative energy out there and NeXT doesn'thave a monopoly on it.
>
>Wake up and feel the pain in your fingers/hands/arms/shoulders, _everyone_
>stands to gain from fighting this issue, not just a few OD owners.

Philip McDunnough
philip@utstat.toronto.edu