doug@edge.UUCP (Doug Pardee) (08/21/88)
Hi Dave, > There's an opening for some company to define a whole new kind of personal > computing - computers that are "personal", that work with and for the > individual owner in his/her everyday living. I disagree. The "personal computer" is a solution searching for a problem. Speaking for myself, I can divide my outside-of-work life into things that I want to do (recreation) and things that I have to do anyway (duties and chores). On the recreational side, personal computers have run computer games from the beginning. There seems to be little that a computer can do to simplify my current duties and chores -- a personal computer can't cook my meals, wash my dishes and clothes, dust my home, ponder political and social issues, fill my car with gas or take it to the lube shop, or drive me to work. Heaven knows that if a computer could ease my duties and chores, I'd have put one to work long ago. And the last thing I need is to take on new duties and chores that a computer is able to handle just so that I can buy a computer to handle them. The bottom line is that my personal (non-work) life revolves around activity, not information. It's labor intensive. Outside of work, I have little need for an information processing, storage, and communication device. What needs I do have are already handled just fine by pencil, paper, calculator, and telephone. Doug Pardee
reggie@pdn.UUCP (George W. Leach) (08/24/88)
Doug Pardee writes: > I disagree. The "personal computer" is a solution searching for a problem. At this point in time, I would have to agree with this statement. > Speaking for myself, I can divide my outside-of-work life into things > that I want to do (recreation) and things that I have to do anyway > (duties and chores). On the recreational side, personal computers > have run computer games from the beginning. This seems to be the traditional home use of computers. But if that is all one is good for I would rather buy one specifically suited towards playing games and displaying them on my TV. However, there are the hobbiests out there who don't work with those machines much on the job or at least they are not professional programmers. Also, many in this industry do side jobs at home or are looking to get into business full time some day. > There seems to be little that a computer can do to simplify my current > duties and chores -- a personal computer can't cook my meals, wash my > dishes and clothes, dust my home, ponder political and social issues, > fill my car with gas or take it to the lube shop, or drive me to work. > Heaven knows that if a computer could ease my duties and chores, I'd > have put one to work long ago. I don't have a machine at home and I really have no desire to get one either. When I go home, I have had enough interacting with a machine for the day and I need to interact with the wife and kids to keep sane. Whenever someone finds out in the course of a conversation that you are a programmer, they invariable mention that they bought a Tandy or whatever a while ago and want to learn to use it, but.......... Many people seem to be under the impression that they must get their kids a computer, so they will do better in school. Then they have no idea how to use the thing and it just sits. > The bottom line is that my personal (non-work) life revolves around > activity, not information. It's labor intensive. Outside of work, I > have little need for an information processing, storage, and > communication device. What needs I do have are already handled just > fine by pencil, paper, calculator, and telephone. Ah, but think of the future....... information will be widely available via the phone network. You will be able to piece together your own "newspaper" based upon your interests from a variety of sources. The library will never close, so that your children can use a computer to access whatever information they need for a report. The next time your child asks you how something works, you no longer have to look like an idiot, but you can find out very easily. The stand-alone personal computer is limited in it's ability to be useful to the average person at home. But combined with the ability to communicate via the phone network it becomes a portal to an unlimited wealth of information and services in the future. George W. Leach
mhnadel@gryphon.CTS.COM (Miriam Nadel) (08/27/88)
Doug Pardee writes: > I disagree. The "personal computer" is a solution searching for a problem. > > There seems to be little that a computer can do to simplify my current duties > and chores -- a personal computer can't cook my meals, wash my dishes and > clothes, dust my home, ponder political and social issues, fill my car with > gas or take it to the lube shop, or drive me to work. Heaven knows that if a > computer could ease my duties and chores, I'd have put one to work long ago. > > The bottom line is that my personal (non-work) life revolves around activity, > not information. It's labor intensive. Outside of work, I have little need > for an information processing, storage, and communication device. What > needs I do have are already handled just fine by pencil, paper, calculator, > and telephone. I guess this depends on how you live your personal (non-work) life. I find a computer very useful for organizing my personal life. No the computer can't cook my meals but it can help me find a particular recipe. (I haven't typed recipes into the computer but I've indexed them in a database, so I know which cookbook or file to look in.) No it can't do my chores but it can help me schedule my chores. No, it can't ponder political or social isues for me, but I tend to think best in writing and I can certainly organize my thoughts more easily using a word processor than using scraps of paper. I need a lot of information processing and storage in my personal life. I keep inventories of household possessions (which includes a lot of collectibles) for example. The computer is invaluable when I want to find out quickly whether I have the May 1952 issue of Ellery Queen and don't want to go to my rented storage space to find out. It's helpful when I compose letters on personal business - letters which I often need to retain a copy of. It isn't that I couldn't get by without the computer - I did for years. But I was drowning in paper and it was increasingly hard to organize. I still have file boxes and paper records but at least now I can find the information I needed to keep on paper. Miriam Nadel
NRCGSH@RITVAX.BITNET (Norman Coombs) (08/30/88)
If a personal computer is a solution in search of a problem, then it has found me! I am a totally blind college professor. Because my field is history, I was too stupid to realize that a computer was of any use to me until about four years ago, and, since then, it has revolutionized both my professional and personal life. Actually, it has been so exciting that it has turned me into a workaholic with little difference between my personal and professional lives. I use an IBM XT clone with a speech synthesizer. Happily, I have two, one on my desk at work and one in my basement at home. Although, in fact, I spend the majority of my time connected to the VAX cluster at my college. For me my feelings about my computers is the same whether I am using the PC alone or connected to the cluster. I have no FEELINGS about the difference. For a blind professional there are two major problems: transportation and information access. I used to depend on human readers. Now I did not always find that so convenient. I suppose in standard definitions of the term it must have been personal. In fact, it often was my wife or mother. However, personal dependence on another human is not always so pleasant. Not that my wife or mother were unpleasant, bvut I HATED the dependence on another human. Besides, I never even thought of waking my wife up at 3 am to read to me because I was suffering from insomnia. My computer, however, will do that without complaint and without creating feelings of dependence and inferiority on my part. I suppose that, for such reasons, I might even admit to feeling affectionate towards my computer. Granted, it does not lick my ear as does our household mut, but it does talk to me and "serve" me in ways that our dog cannot. That is to say that I have "personal" feelings towards both my computers. They wait to serve me day and night and seem "eager" to meet whatever of my needs they can. I utilize the computer, PC and cluster, for writing, reading electronic digests, reading mail, reading student exams and papers, writing mail and for accessing all kinds of data: encyclopedias, dictionaries and large scholarly databases. As for having a computer dust one's house and wash one's car, I think those computers are usually called robots. Unfortunately, they still need a bit of improvement, and most of us will need to wait for the price to drop. When they make one which can drive our car, I will seriously think about it no matter what its cost. Then, I could have the robot drive me where I want to go when I want to get there. This would let my wife focus her activities on more personal things that I, at least, cannot envision a robot doing very well. Or perhaps Dr. Ruth could get into robot design too. Norman Coombs