malman@FRED.BBN.COM (Joel Malman) (12/24/87)
Dave, I totally agree with your statement: "BUT I still insist that, for the non "power user" there's no need for it." The problem is that most computer users these days, are power users. The children running games don't need "high power or multitasking" - nor do people who really don't understand what a computer can do for them. Once someone reaches the point where they really understand what a computer can do, they should be given access to all the power they need or want to complete the required task - multitasking is just another tool they might need to complete that task. The truth of the matter (bickering aside) is that there are useful things a true computer user or programmer can accomplish with multitasking that can make his/her life easier. (btw: I don't own a multitasking machine - but I do have a Sun 3/50 on my desk at work - and love it!). All these flames about what machine is "better" are total trash. Every machine, ever created, is good for "SOME" task - not every task. The truth is that some tasks can be more easily done and/or done more efficiently with multitasking. If you really want an example OK: Say you are running a mail server on your machine - you would still want to be able to do anything you normally do (editing, debugging, etc) while the mail server is running... For that, you NEED multitasking. To make small computers able to do complex tasks - multitasking is required. Multitasking is just another tool -- like more memory, RAM disks, disk storage space, tape backup devices, sidecars, magic sacs, etc., etc. To most computer professionals, multitasking is just another tool you use to complete a task - it is a fact of computing life. /joel [ arpanet to: malman@bbn.com ]