Desktop PCs: "productivity" no longer a priority?

[Darren Dirt]

Dvorak has a conversation with 1979 computer user -- and maybe gets you thinking 'bout how good we got it today.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405053,00.asp



:sigh: with all the power and no responsibility/obligation to use it to the fullest, we sure have let the past down...
http://www.atariarchives.org/bcc3/showpage.php?page=98
(sorry Jim Warren.)

[Lazybones]

PCs have gave us more free time and require fewer people to do the same task... This fee time is then put back into the PCs as an entertainment device.

One of the comments on the first article has it right..

Go back in time:

What amazing things you must be able to do with these power full computers:

- Computers? Hell my phone can capture color motion pictures at a quality great then your current cinema and allow me to edit the production including sound without using film.
- We no long use photo laps to develop pictures to paper, we can share them instantly with our families over video phone devices and PCs
- computing power is so advanced that we can simulate automobiles and aircraft for leisure activities
- computers are so common and advanced they they don't even bother putting encyclopedia Britannica in physical print anymore! The computer version is always up to date and include audio and motion picture records. Children no-longer need to spend hours at the library to study and access reference materials!

[Darren Dirt]

- every episode of The Simpsons is described, quoted, analyzed, and celebrated/critiqued in excruciating detail in multiple locations for no charge!

(what's "The Simpsons"?)

[Mr. Analog]

- every episode of The Simpsons is described, quoted, analyzed, and celebrated/critiqued in excruciating detail in multiple locations for no charge!

(what's "The Simpsons"?)

Yes, and before computers and networks there were actual mailing lists that circulated among fans of anything people obsess about: Star Trek, Doctor Who, DALLAS

Heck, even before that there were letters to the editors in pulp magazines, comics, book clubs, coffee houses, the village pump...

Actually thinking about it, all computers and networks have done is made the process of nerding out way more efficient....

[Darren Dirt]

made the process of nerding out way more efficient....

[Mr. Analog]

Yah

[Darren Dirt]

Go back in time:

What amazing things you must be able to do with these power full computers:

this all now fits in your pocket in a single electronic gadget:


(via http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/things-that-will-make-you-feel-old )

[Lazybones]

Go back in time:

What amazing things you must be able to do with these power full computers:

this all now fits in your pocket in a single electronic gadget:
.....
(via http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/things-that-will-make-you-feel-old )

Great example, but dammit I followed the link and I feel REALLY OLD all of a sudden!

[Thorin]

Well not exactly, that electronic gadget won't play CDs and cassettes, which that picture has in it.  It also doesn't print, nor does it have anywhere near the audio fidelity or volume those multiple speakers will have.  And there's three sets of headphones in this picture, which you would all still have with your electronic gadget.  Oh, and a full keyboard to do actual typing on, a la the word processor shown here?  Also, you can't play VHS tapes, they're shown in the right corner of the picture.

I guess there's equivalent technology scaled down in the electronic gadget, but notice the picture has lots of redundancy (two audio formats, three or four devices with radios, etc).  I don't think it's an entirely fair comparison.

[Tom]

Well not exactly, that electronic gadget won't play CDs and cassettes, which that picture has in it.  It also doesn't print, nor does it have anywhere near the audio fidelity or volume those multiple speakers will have.  And there's three sets of headphones in this picture, which you would all still have with your electronic gadget.  Oh, and a full keyboard to do actual typing on, a la the word processor shown here?  Also, you can't play VHS tapes, they're shown in the right corner of the picture.

I guess there's equivalent technology scaled down in the electronic gadget, but notice the picture has lots of redundancy (two audio formats, three or four devices with radios, etc).  I don't think it's an entirely fair comparison.

Man you are entirely too picky

[Lazybones]

Well not exactly, that electronic gadget won't play CDs and cassettes, which that picture has in it.  It also doesn't print, nor does it have anywhere near the audio fidelity or volume those multiple speakers will have.  And there's three sets of headphones in this picture, which you would all still have with your electronic gadget.  Oh, and a full keyboard to do actual typing on, a la the word processor shown here?  Also, you can't play VHS tapes, they're shown in the right corner of the picture.

I guess there's equivalent technology scaled down in the electronic gadget, but notice the picture has lots of redundancy (two audio formats, three or four devices with radios, etc).  I don't think it's an entirely fair comparison.

Don't look at it as quality but common use, depending on when the photo was taken, lets go based on the fact there are cassette tapes still. We will just ignore all the head phones since they where needed for several of the devices

Tape = portable music storage = Mp3
CD = grew fast to replace cassette and software distribution = App stores and MP3
VHS = personal video recording / playback= Phone / SD storage (my phone can record over 2 hrs of 1080p video! / it can also play Netflix!
Portable TV = Streaming APP on phone
calculator = everything is a calculator, you can have many types on a phone
phone = yep it is a phone as well.
word processor = well yes my phone can do that as well, ether with an onscreen keyboard or you could use a bluetooth keyboard if you wanted.
boombox = they all have iPod/iPhone docs now.. My phone replaced the cassette
FM radio? = you can get them in the ipods, but I also have a streaming app on my phone that lets me stream a huge number of local stations

I would be more than happy to say I carry ONE device that removes my need for nearly everything pictured or at least plays a role in the replacement.

[Mr. Analog]

also re:printing if your printer has bluetooth or wireless you can print via your phone

[Lazybones]

also re:printing if your printer has bluetooth or wireless you can print via your phone

The world is not paper less, but honestly the majority of documents I create stay electronic and get emailed to people... The picture is of a word-processor as far as I can tell so I am referring to the feature of document creation being possible, not the output......

[Mr. Analog]

also re:printing if your printer has bluetooth or wireless you can print via your phone

The world is not paper less, but honestly the majority of documents I create stay electronic and get emailed to people... The picture is of a word-processor as far as I can tell so I am referring to the feature of document creation being possible, not the output......

I think I've printed one document in the last year and a half, so far I am unaffected by the shift, just saying though, if I wanted to most printers are networked and ready to go.

[Darren Dirt]

Well not exactly, that electronic gadget won't play CDs and cassettes, which that picture has in it.  It also doesn't print, nor does it have anywhere near the audio fidelity or volume those multiple speakers will have.  And there's three sets of headphones in this picture, which you would all still have with your electronic gadget.  Oh, and a full keyboard to do actual typing on, a la the word processor shown here?  Also, you can't play VHS tapes, they're shown in the right corner of the picture.

I guess there's equivalent technology scaled down in the electronic gadget, but notice the picture has lots of redundancy (two audio formats, three or four devices with radios, etc).  I don't think it's an entirely fair comparison.

Man you are entirely too picky

I agree in this case -- because finding that photo and remembering the Dvorak article and this thread, I thought "wow, all the FUNCTIONALITY of this guy's gadgets = in a single gadget". The resulting goal of using all those gadgets (editing text, playing audio or video media, outputting to a printer) can ALL be done via a smartphone with internet access. Including watching a feature-length film. In better quality video/audio than most of those older gadgets were capable of storing/delivering.

btw anyone else think he looks eerily like Alan Tudyk?
(depending on the role of course...)