chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) (09/27/88)
In article <9443@cup.portal.com> bcase@cup.portal.com writes: >... Whenever I tell a layperson (but computer user) that I have been >working on a way to let new computers run old software, they ask why it >hasn't always been that way.... Think of software for computers as >gasoline for automobiles and you understand why the layperson is mad >that IBM PCs can't run Apple software! What would you think if Arco >gasoline only worked in economy cars! You just need to tell them that software is not like gasoline. (Electric power is like gasoline :-) .) Software is like . . . Spark plugs! -- In-Real-Life: Chris Torek, Univ of MD Comp Sci Dept (+1 301 454 7163) Domain: chris@mimsy.umd.edu Path: uunet!mimsy!chris
crick@bnr-rsc.UUCP (Bill Crick) (09/29/88)
A better anology is to music. The software is the sheet music, and
the computer is the band or orchestra.
Now: A rock band can't play music written for an orchestra because
it doesn't have 1st,snd and 3rd violins. Nor does it have an oboe?
An orchestra couldn't play country music arangments: no steel guitar!
Rock band playing bluegrass? no bango!
However it is possible to go back to th original melody (the source)
and write an arangement for the "band you've got" (re-compile).
The song may not sound exactly the same! but this is how you hear
Beatles music on Elevator Musac!
simple! no?snoopy@sopwith.UUCP (Snoopy T. Beagle) (09/29/88)
In article <13744@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes: |In article <9443@cup.portal.com> bcase@cup.portal.com writes: |>.... Think of software for computers as |>gasoline for automobiles and you understand why the layperson is mad |>that IBM PCs can't run Apple software! What would you think if Arco |>gasoline only worked in economy cars! | |You just need to tell them that software is not like gasoline. (Electric |power is like gasoline :-) .) Software is like . . . | | Spark plugs! Software is like Sun-4 advertising? Nahhhh! ;-) My car gives me a SIGBADGAS if I try to load Chevron, usually during init. Runs fine on Shell. Chevron must have the wrong molecule chain order. Software is like the map. If you have a M6, you want a map of the Autobahn, if you have a Jeep, you want a map of the Baja. Excuse me, I have to go Rain-X the console. _____ /_____\ Snoopy /_______\ |___| tektronix!tekecs!sopwith!snoopy |___| sun!nosun!illian!sopwith!snoopy