Subj : Re: what are you dialing in with?
To   : AKAcastor
From : Nightfox
Date : Tue Jun 11 2024 13:00:45

  Re: Re: what are you dialing in with?
  By: AKAcastor to Bob Worm on Tue Jun 11 2024 10:53 am

 AK> But I think that instead of the kinks being worked out, we just decided
 AK> that computers not really working that well is a normal and satisfactory
 AK> baseline.

In some ways though, I think some things have gotten better.  Microsoft Windows became the dominant operating system for PCs (despite there being arguably better alternatives), and there was a time when Windows was known to crash a lot.  I think Windows has become much more stable for the everyday user, especially since Windows 2000 and XP came around (which were based on NT rather than 9x).  And Linux is a lot more mature, too.  I have a secondary PC at home running Linux Mint, which runs my BBS and Plex media server, and generally it just chugs along without major isssues.

 AK> We live in a world of compromise, and the result isn't always ideal.
 AK> Instead of stacks of books documenting computer hardware/software, things
 AK> are made so intuitive that documentation "isn't needed".  Now we're
 AK> relying on posts online from unknown sources to educate us in how to use
 AK> our new devices.  I didn't know how to move the cursor for text entry on
 AK> my iPhone for a really long time, until I happened to see a friend do it -
 AK> I still run into people who have no idea you can move the cursor and don't
 AK> have to backspace everything to fix a typo in the middle.  How the hell

I always thought you could tap on the screen anywhere in an input field to move/place the cursor there (similar to clicking a mouse on a PC to place the cursor).  Was there a time when that didn't work?  Or am I thinking of a different scenario than you're describing?

 AK> Don't even get me started on software development practices... They make
 AK> modern hardware look absolutely brilliant.

As a software developer, sometimes I wonder about some software development practices.  And it seems most software developers prefer their own way of doing things, and in code reviews, they'll judge other peoples' code accordingly.

Nightfox
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