As I See It...

A weekly commentary
by James E. Felton

January 18, 1997

Most all of us have heard the PC referred to as a "geek" appliance. But, since most of us don't consider ourselves geeks we don't give it much thought. Well, I've always had the feeling that something wasn't quite right about PCs. And though I've been involved in electronics, and computers for 20 years I was never interested in buying a PC until the Internet became a household word.

But, I have a little brother who has been involved with PCs as long as they have been commercial products. The same brother who tried to interest me in digital audio several years ago. (see ASISEEIT 1) A recent letter from him shed a little light on the subject for me. The following is an excerpt from his letter:

Dear James,

I don't know if I ever told you this story, but...

When I first saw a Windows 3.0 demonstration, my co-workers and I just laughed. We thought it was the worst PC idea ever. Later we heard the Microsoft promo. of Windows. According to Microsoft, Windows 3.0 was a GUI environment which would increase productivity, would allow flat memory (RAM) management, would muli-task DOS, and Windows programs, would allow cut-and-paste and DDE between applications, and would run in less than 2Mb. It sounded great! And, if these claims were all completely true, Windows would have been great. As is the case with all Microsoft products, these claims were true in a very limited sense, but none actually worked as advertised.

After I installed Windows 3.0 on my computer at work my productivity dropped more than 80%. Some productivity tool, I thought! Windows still chopped memory up, but did manage memory slightly better than DOS. Windows cooperative multi-tasking was minimal at best; barely better than task-switching in DOS. Cut-and-paste and DDE were OK, not great. You had to have at least 4Mb RAM to run an application in Windows. And Windows 3.0 ran 5 to10 times slower than DOS, and it crashed frequently (at least 5 times a day on my computer).

I quit using it after about 2 weeks. In my opinion Windows 3.0 was highly defective and should have been recalled. Instead, it took over the PC market. The only reason I could guess why people didn't return Windows for a refund is it's inclusion of Solitaire!

Well, that explains alot! Now I know why I don't like PCs! I don't play solitaire! I'm a people person!

In my personal life...

I don't want to have an intimate affair with a piece of hardware. I don't want to sit at a desk in a corner looking at a little monitor. I want an information appliance. I want a productivity tool. I want an entertainment device. I WANT A CONVENIENCE ITEM! I want to be able to sit in my living room with my family, or friends, and watch our favorite show, or play a video game, or look up the meaning of a word, or have a video conference with a friend whenever we choose. I want all of my audio, and video, and productivity tools accessible from one source. The source we presently call a television set.

In my business life...

I don't want to be a software administrator. And I don't want to have to hire a company to come in and set-up, and maintain my hardware, and software. I don't want to have to call them when it breaks so I can wait for them to send a little man in a little car, with a little box of tools to come and fix my problem, and charge me out the "kazoo" for it.

I want to be able to visit a business' website. See what they claim they can provide for my business. Punch a "try it" button. Enter the critical data. Evaluate their "product" for some period of time. If their product, or service does what they claim it does it will make me money! I have no problem with paying them a fee for making me money! If it breaks, I'll use a pencil, and paper till they get it fixed. Or I'll switch to a different company.

As I see it, 5 to 10 years from now a little boy may ask his father, "Daddy, what was a PC? And the father will answer, "Well, son, it was this big old box that sat on a desk connected to a TV that wasn't a TV. Only one person could use at a time, and it required constant maintenance, and upgrades. Video quality was terrible, and sound quality wasn't very good, and it depreciated an average of $50.00 per month. The software you bought for it didn't "belong" to you. You just "licensed" it. And software was practically worthless the day after you bought it. It was a nightmare!"

Related Information:

Can't Follow Wired's 'Style'? Hey, That's JTB LA Times

The Satellite Blasts Off Business Week

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