Author: Robert Hyatt
Date: 07:28:47 09/26/99
Go up one level in this thread
On September 26, 1999 at 02:49:44, Christophe Theron wrote: > > >This is wrong in many countries. That is a terrible thing to say, but it's the >reality. In many countries, the price of a computer represents several months of >salary. > I wouldn't doubt that a bit... but the issue is "some" vs "most". I don't think this is true in "most" countries.. > > >>Makes a lot of sense to improve an expensive person's productivity by >>upgrading a computer. > > >It is true that everytime you make the mistake of installing a new version of >Windows your productivity decreases tremendously, unless you upgrade to a faster >computer. :) > >But let's be serious. And let's face it, in a business environement, generally >you get almost no gain in productivity by replacing a computer by a faster one. >You might get some gain in the universities of in selected business tasks, but >generally you get nothing. > My wife works in a small private school (Indian Springs in Birmingham). She is responsible for managing donations, soliciting donations, etc. She runs a database application where she is continually asking "who donated money last year but not this year" or "how many alum parents donated this year?" etc. All of those are database queries that run many minutes each. So you can _bet_ that they want the queries to terminate quickly. Word processing and faxes are done in a lot of places, to be sure, but number-crunching applications are far more common on PCs today than 5 years ago because of the speed/economics of PCs. Personally, I know more people using computers for heavy-duty computing than I do that are using it for toy applications that require almost nothing. In the US, entire companies are built around this sort of use.. Gateway and Dell are selling direct to home users. And they aren't selling 486's, they are selling PII/PIII systems.. >Think that most people use computers to write texts, send faxes, use an >accounting or stock management software. > >Or play Winmine at the office. :) > >All these tasks can be done with an acceptable ease of use by 5 years ago >computers. > >In fact, changing the computer is generally needed because the new operating >system you install will force you to have a faster computer. Or your usual >software will not work anymore, so you'll have to get a version for the new OS >and it will be so slow that you'll have to change the hardware. > >Let's face it. There is little rationality generally to computer upgrades. >People buy faster computers because: >* Slower computers are not sold anymore >* The OS (Windows generally) is DESIGNED ON PURPOSE to use more hard disk space >and CPU resources >* Software editors want you to re-buy software and argue that the new software >is necessary because of the changes in the OS >* And finally because they don't want to look stupid. Their friends all have the >latest available software and hardware: "What? You are still using Windows 95?!" > wouldn't argue at all... my point was that "it happens"... you only added "it happens for reasons that don't always make sense". :) But we both agree that it does happen, and it happens frequently. I think IA64 will be more of the same... > >Sorry Bob, I'm slowly going off topic. I'm so upset by this crazyness... > > > >>We just had 50+ computers donated to a networking lab we >>have. These machines were everything between P5/90 to pentium pro/200's. They >>were donated because the business using them was upgrading to PIII/600's. >> >> >>The point is that at least in the USA, 486's are _not_ being used heavily. > > >There is life outside the USA, you know. :) > >Here (Guadeloupe) we have something like: >40% -> 486 >25% -> Pentium or Pentium MMX >20% -> PII or K6 > 5% -> PIII or more. > >I would say that Guadeloupe (which is a part of France) is right between well >developped countries (USA, Europe, parts of Asia, Australia, parts of >South-America...) and countries that are behind (the rest of the world). > > > >>They are nearly impossible to find. UAB will sell you a pallet full of them >>by the pound, as our warehouse is full of retired 386/486 and even older >>pentium machines, by the hundreds. Coming out of academic departments, out of >>the hospital, out of the business offices, etc. > > >Can you imagine the number of schools that would be able to make good use of >these old computers??? > >How many thousands children could have access to the computer technology just >with these obsolete computers? > > > >>As far as chess goes, I can't >>begin to count the number of PIII machines on the chess servers... and these >>are machines ie people's homes. We are buying PIII/600 boxes for under $1500 >>now... >> >>Ask Intel how many chips they have sold. That will give you a perspective on >>how many older machines are being replaced. The number is _huge_. > > >There is no doubt that there is a huge number of people out there that >ABSOLUTELY need a PIII-600 to run their favorite word processor. > >And they will switch to 1GHz computers as soon as they become available. And in >5 years will we all have a good laugh at these crappy PIII-600. > > > > Christophe
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.