New computers NOT as productive as old?

[Azryl]

Sitting infront of this 2ghz cpu 1gigabyte memory computer system I find myself wondering..  why with all this power is it harder to actually DO anything productive with it??


I started on computers originally 1984 on a Vaxen Mainframe system, where you could immediately enter 2 or 3 different editors and compilers at the command line. It was simple to write code, edit code, spawn processes, even the internet and ftp at your finger tips etc

Around 1985 I bought my first personal computer system, Commodore 64. Again, you could be productive, write code in a full screen editor ( do THAT windows!! ) experiment with machine language ( peek poke ) from within its internal basic and have fun actually doing interesting things with your computer, learn how to use it and how it worked.

Around the start of 1987 I bought one of the first A500 Amiga's into Australia ( it didnt have a left amiga key.. it had a C= key! ) quite rare I'm sure ( still in its box ) along with 1084 monitor. Learned Cli, Workbench, Multitasking.. all great fun stuff, and it also had a basic system where you could actually code and learn about the capabilities under the bonnet so to speak. More machine code, graphics, demo's, reference manuals and ALOT of time and money


But this wonder windows machine with capabilities unthought of way back mid 80's...  once you install windows, setup your desktop..  there is NOTHING immediately available to start coding ( forget text, html thanx!!)

There is NO incentive to look deeper, NO programs within Windows itself to give you a quick entrance to start coding, experimenting, learning!

Am I being too biased towards my old machines?

Or is a major part of computing now becoming hidden, almost taboo? To want to learn about the machine you just spent your money on??

I dont beleive its because the computers themselves today are more complex, I think its a direction the major OS providers deliberately take to keep people away from learning/exploring inside their proprietory code.

Something that Commodore and Amiga never did
It allowed programmers, the inqisitive and geeky, to peek inside and wonder how it worked, how it could be used, and more importantly.. how it could be improved!

Az

[odin]

But what incentive did WB's after 1.3 (i.e. without Amiga Basic) give you to start progging? For most people a computer is a tool to send an email to uncle Bob, type a letter, muck about with digital photos or surf the web. The people who *are* interested in programming will get a proper development suite anyway so what would the added value be of a compiler?

I think you are viewing a computer more as a hobby object than most people, for the vast majority it's just a device like a fridge or a VCR. The computer has matured into a device which is (well...in a weird twisted way..) usable to Joe Public. Unlike the stuff of the eighties with it's cryptic shell interfaces (However this is debatable, I've seen a documentary on some computer scientist-type of guy who was of the opinion that a CLI-based, single tasking environment is much more userfriendly than the GUI-based systems of today. And there could be some truth in that).

[bloodline]

Yeah, download DevC++ and have fun :-) though computers are much more complex now and less easy to "get under the bonet".

[Dan]

odin wrote:
I think you are viewing a computer more as a hobby object than most people, for the vast majority it's just a device like a fridge or a VCR. The computer has matured into a device which is (well...in a weird twisted way..) usable to Joe Public.

Yeah but not as fun, the Amigas and ataris was true amateur-machines. A amigaowner dabbled in everything graphics, trackers, a little programming etc
Winblows is just in my way when I try to do something and Unix takes a looot of time to configure.

It´s like the old how man people does it takes to change a lightbulb:
Windows:One but you got to  have another five change the wiring in the whole house to Microsoft standard.

Unix:Only one but if you dont tell him: "2<"or some other cryptic code then he puts the new lightbulb in without removing the old one from the socket.
Mac: Three, one that changes the lightbulb and two that redecorates your home.

Oh, and Outlook is hardly useful! :lol:

Unlike the stuff of the eighties with it's cryptic shell interfaces (However this is debatable, I've seen a documentary on some computer scientist-type of guy who was of the opinion that a CLI-based, single tasking environment is much more userfriendly than the GUI-based systems of today. And there could be some truth in that).

Well for single task machines it is! The library switched from black and white text terminals to a fancy webb-interface for bookseeking. Guess which sucks?
Just a simple thing like you have to clik the mouse in a textfield before typing :pissed:

[Karlos]

It has to be said I spend a lot more time actually working on my amiga than I do on my PC. The latter is old too although newer than the amiga hardware.

Basically I find the amiga and it's OS a much more productive environment to work in.