From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 11232c,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid11232c,public X-Google-Thread: fdb77,5f529c91be2ac930 X-Google-Attributes: gidfdb77,public X-Google-Thread: 1108a1,59ec73856b699922 X-Google-Attributes: gid1108a1,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,583275b6950bf4e6 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2003-04-26 23:24:24 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail From: xanthian@well.com (Kent Paul Dolan) Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.advocacy,comp.object,comp.lang.ada,misc.misc Subject: Re: the Ada mandate, and why it collapsed and died (was): 64 bit addressing and OOP Date: 26 Apr 2003 23:24:23 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Message-ID: References: <9fa75d42.0304221126.7112b7d5@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0304230439.55d28e70@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0304240503.54dbc5d1@posting.google.com> <20619edc.0304240953.221ac70f@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0304250448.5107afef@posting.google.com> <20619edc.0304252116.621a4bf4@posting.google.com> <9fa75d42.0304260649.366530c5@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.8.249.148 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1051424664 4182 127.0.0.1 (27 Apr 2003 06:24:24 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Apr 2003 06:24:24 GMT Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.java.advocacy:62752 comp.object:62103 comp.lang.ada:36639 misc.misc:13750 Date: 2003-04-27T06:24:24+00:00 List-Id: softeng3456@netscape.net (soft-eng) wrote: > No, I am serious. How sad for you then. > Many people who use computers today, simply wouldn't have been > able to, 20 years ago. That's progress, exc[ep]t if you have > a personal reason to say "no, it's not.". Except that you are revising history beyond recognition: the vi() editor was written for the use of secretaries, and it is lots more than 20 years old. Visicalc, the first spreadsheet, was a tool for managers, and it is over 20 years old. Computers have been used by non-programmer types pretty much since their inception; we programmers have always worked as a service class to the needs of end users, and there have always been end users who were not computer sophisticates. > NOBODY except computer programmers complain about reliability > of Windows. They might claim it's frustrating, but not > unreliable. That's not true either; my bookkeeper/secretary/billing clerk wife regaled me with horror stories of time lost to Windows and other M$ "productivity" tools for over a decade, and started that period by saying "and thus it has always been". Among the haters of MS-Windows, clerical types probably have pride of place far ahead of mere knowledgable programmers, the latter having the advantage of knowing not merely that MS-Windows is unfit for use, but also why that is so, and so are not inconsolable like the clerks. > I think there used to be many complaints in this NG because > Windows crashed when somebody loaded a buggy device driver > into it. That kind of complaint HAS to come from a Computer > Programmer with an axe to grind. Common people would NEVER > complain that Honda makes junk cars because they took out the > batteries and replaced it with experimental junk, and the car > refused to start! Except that what is really happening with MS-Windows has nothing to do with "buggy device drivers" and everything to do with "bad M$ OS writer design decisions that put the device drivers inside the OS address space". Your analogy is flawed, it is more like Hondas refusing to start if the driver wears plaids with stripes. xanthian.