On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 10:15:20AM -0700, Rob Pike wrote:
>
> Yes, it's remarkable how much bigger programs are now than they were
> 20 years ago, but 20 years ago the same things were being said.
Can we conclude that the added power is lost for the result obtained
from the applications, since it is taken by the "machinery"? Just as if
a washing powder giving already a "perfect" result 20 years ago had been
"improved" (from perfect to more than perfect) being able to give a
perfect result even if you make a knot around the heavy dirt before
throwing in the washing-machine: you have a perfectly clean result (as
you could obtain before, but without making the knot), except that
you have to make the knots before and try to unmake them after?
I remember when I started to work in a surveyor office. There was
microstation, back in early 90s, that ran on a DOS extender with a
perfect graphical performance (you were able to work flawlessly,
zooming, panning or whatever). You were never waiting for the
application or the display; it worked faster than your input.
Once Windows "improved" came, it took several years for the computers to
give the very same user experience, by an order of magnitude increase in
power for the "PC". It had to recover from Windows improvements first...
--
Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
http://www.kergis.com/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89 250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C
