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  • rant

    From Mark P. Nelson@21:1/5 to All on Sun Aug 4 05:38:23 2024
    Look, the whole point of the *personal* computer was that you didn't have to rent time from
    IBM to figure out your profit/loss balance.

    Ever since then, every computer company has been trying desperately to revive the "You
    only rent it" model to bolster their bottom line, no matter their public face on the question.

    We're getting closer and closer to no longer having personal computers which we own and
    can configure/control as we wish but rather Microsoft or Banana computers for which we pay
    a regular fee.

    Pfui!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Dimensional Traveler@21:1/5 to Mark P. Nelson on Sun Aug 4 09:09:02 2024
    On 8/3/2024 10:38 PM, Mark P. Nelson wrote:
    Look, the whole point of the *personal* computer was that you didn't have to rent time from
    IBM to figure out your profit/loss balance.

    Ever since then, every computer company has been trying desperately to revive the "You
    only rent it" model to bolster their bottom line, no matter their public face on the question.

    We're getting closer and closer to no longer having personal computers which we own and
    can configure/control as we wish but rather Microsoft or Banana computers for which we pay
    a regular fee.

    Pfui!

    Its not just computers.

    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From JAB@21:1/5 to Dimensional Traveler on Mon Aug 5 09:05:59 2024
    On 04/08/2024 17:09, Dimensional Traveler wrote:
    On 8/3/2024 10:38 PM, Mark P. Nelson wrote:
    Look, the whole point of the *personal* computer was that you didn't
    have to rent time from
    IBM to figure out your profit/loss balance.

    Ever since then, every computer company has been trying desperately to
    revive the "You
    only rent it" model to bolster their bottom line, no matter their
    public face on the question.

    We're getting closer and closer to no longer having personal computers
    which we own and
    can configure/control as we wish but rather Microsoft or Banana
    computers for which we pay
    a regular fee.

    Pfui!

    Its not just computers.


    I think it's got it's place so for example in the UK it's now common for
    people not to buy new cars but instead pay for them monthly and then
    after three years or so have some sort of option to buy. It's a simple
    but effective idea from the car manufactures. Open up a whole market for
    people who want a new car but just don't have the money on hand. I still remember when it wasn't uncommon for people to rent household items such
    as TV's and washing machines.

    Were it goes wrong is with the likes of BMW, oh you want the maps
    updated, well that will be £80 a year. Even worse is something like like
    high beam assist which is more than just a bit of software. That'll be
    £10 a month.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark P. Nelson@21:1/5 to Spalls Hurgenson on Mon Aug 12 16:28:59 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote in news:dfjhbjd3vejkuc7f2qnejr9fbtjemrudnf@4ax.com:

    [I'd say wrongly, at least for the vast bulk of users,
    including many of those who use it professionally. The
    Affinity software suite comes very close to matching
    Photoshop feature-for-feature, but even GIMP or
    Paint.Net are often good enough for 90% of what most
    people use it for. It's inertia, not capability, that
    maintains Adobe's poistion.]


    Sorry, but LibreOffice Writer is no substitute for MS Word when working with more complex
    documents--especially when you're a production professional and the person who created the
    document is not.

    The problem with Affinity Publisher for a professional is that it doesn't support any form of
    scripting, so you can't automate any of the more tedious elements of the production process.

    For those interested in modding games, Affinity Photo doesn't support .dds files at all, so it's
    a non-starter there. Affinity claims it will recognise and use Photoshop plug-ins, but I've never
    got it to work with the .dds tools.

    Otherwise, the free stuff is great. and the Affinity stuff, which we own, is terrific.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Mark P. Nelson@21:1/5 to Altered Beast on Tue Aug 13 04:43:13 2024
    Altered Beast <j63480576@gmail.com> wrote in news:lhuuhvFlce3U2@mid.individual.net:


    What units are computing power measured in?

    Never mind the mathetical operations, I always like to measure this in monk-hours as a
    matter of practical productivity. Considering how much text a computer could output, via a
    decent printer, in one second, how long would it have taken one monk, using a quill and
    parchment, to produce the same number of verses, with or without illuminated caps?

    But, if you insist on FLOPS, consider a monk with a quill and parchment. How long will it
    take him to solve a given quadratic equation versus the computer's performance?

    ;)þ~

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Xocyll@21:1/5 to All on Wed Aug 14 12:19:36 2024
    Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
    say:

    On Tue, 13 Aug 2024 04:43:13 -0000 (UTC), "Mark P. Nelson" ><markpnelson@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

    Altered Beast <j63480576@gmail.com> wrote in news:lhuuhvFlce3U2@mid.individual.net:


    What units are computing power measured in?

    Never mind the mathetical operations, I always like to measure this in monk-hours as a
    matter of practical productivity. Considering how much text a computer could output, via a
    decent printer, in one second, how long would it have taken one monk, using a quill and
    parchment, to produce the same number of verses, with or without illuminated caps?

    But, if you insist on FLOPS, consider a monk with a quill and parchment. How long will it
    take him to solve a given quadratic equation versus the computer's performance?


    It depends on the monk, I suppose. Are we running these maths on a
    'Thomas Aquinas' processor or a 'Bob-the-Inebriated-Dribbler' core?

    ;-)


    Or Rainman the Monk.

    A savant will outperform a computer every time in their field.

    Xocyll

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)