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Looper's Delight
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Comparing cars to computers is often problematic. I'd compare the computer in this case to a tape deck, or some rack gear, or an instrument. For a long time, these were tools that with simple periodic maintenance would continue to do what they were designed to for literally decades. Of course, cars were more like that when they were largely non-digital. It depends on what you mean by "the" software. I've been using computers for hard disk recording for seven or eight years, and the first three programs I used won't run on my current system due to the OS9/X switchover. Since I started using OS X, I've had to give Digidesign several infusions of cash to keep my ProTools setup working. I could have stopped updating the operating system and ProTools, but most people don't get into computer solutions to eliminate options. None of the plugins that I was using on my OS 9 PCI system work on my OS X setup. Some of them have updated versions, which I could purchase, but the line between "using the same software and paying for updates" and "buying a new piece of software" starts to become sort of academic. I'm skeptical of the idea that we're in a new age of computing where software doesn't suffer obsolesence. Regardless of how clever the OS designers may be in providing a platform that favors long-term compatibility, the application folks aren't thinking "Gosh, I must make sure I follow all OS programming guidelines to insure that my software doesn't break with the next update", but more "Hey--this clever hack will give me performance that I need, I'll worry about the ramifications when the next OS update arrives..." TravisH On 1/4/06, Jeff Larson <Jeffrey.Larson@sun.com> wrote: > David Kirkdorffer wrote: > > To all the computer-based people, how many of you are running NT on >your > > laptops today - a standard from just 5 years ago. Five years from now >what > > will be available, I wonder > > I don't run NT any more, but everything I bought for NT still runs on XP >Home. > Five years from now we will be running Windows XP 2010 and it will run >most if > not all of the software you have now. > > Home computer operating systems have matured to the point where I really > don't expect to see any dramatic changes other than 64-bit, more > eye candy in the user interface, and "utilities" like that new searching > feature in OS/X. OS/X is basically Mach where it counts and that's been > around for 20 years. > > I don't find the "eventual obsolescence" argument very interesting, I > guess because I've been conditioned to look at a computer purchase > like a car purchase. I'm going to buy a new one every 4 or 5 years, > it's just part of the cost of living. Horses live longer than > cars, but people don't seem to complain about that any more. Should > computers be held to a higher standard? > > Jeff