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Old Morecambe Archive
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« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2008, 06:44:15 PM » |
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Jim Brock
Member
Member # 57
posted 10 March 2002 03:52 PM Profile for Jim Brock Send New Private Message Edit/Delete Post Reply With Quote
Hello Elaine,
Oh No!!, You have busted on me regarding your relative age, and now because I am a man and too proud to admit to having problems with PC usage. This all relates to the story of the 107 year old lady who has started using the internet. Let me say that news snippet was one of the more fascinating bits I have read on the bulletin-board and God-Bless that lady, which feelings I have shared with others in private communications. She is a brave soul and her actions contrast sharply with those of many others I have talked too, who are frightened of the Internet because it is so "High Tech".
And by the way, they were all men!!
My computer usage started way back in 1964. Were you born then?? At that time one had to write their own programs, and it ended up on a coil of punched tape. This was then taken to a place where there was a room-sized computer into which the tape was fed. Needless to say the power of that computer was a tiny fraction of those we have sitting at home. Later, programs were punched out on cards, and these were fed into computers, like the Fortran 1130, which was about the size of a desk.
The modern PC, with all the software already written in, has made their use, extraordinarily simple, and the "High Tech" aspect has all been done for you. Their use is more like playing a video game. Nevertheless their are problems which one has to master and that certainly was the case with me. The hand books, at least over here, appear to be written for the advanced computer user and are sometimes, at least I will freely admit to me, incomprehensible. In the states, this has been addressed by a company who provide books where things are more simply explained, and which have titles like "The Internet for Idiots", and "Word for Idiots". I have several of them. Not the least of my problems was one you mentioned, the mouse losing its legs. In my case that was cured by taking out the little compressed rubber ball, cleaning the dust off it, and blowing the dust out of the mouse interior. The ball was then free to turn in the mouse which regained its leg usage.
As to meeting a desk top PC for the first time, I can tell you, that to me it was mind boggling. The advances made in PC's since the first one arrived are also staggering, and we are only just scratching the surface. I don't know if you have ever looked inside your PC, but in it there are small chips about the size of a finger nail. At very high magnification, these are shown to consist of tens of thousands of little metal lines, like a street map, all leading to tiny little semicondutor switches. That's a nutshell simplistic description but to my mind there's a great beauty in it all. But then my perspective is that of a doddering old scientist.
It is interesting to me to see the different perspectives folks have on life. Thank God for these differences because it is what makes the world so interesting. I suspect that your note was to encourage someone to bite, just as I have done. Not I hope you will understand, a dire case of paranoia(Sp??) To get back to Meryl's note about the centenerian, I would love to know how she is doing; I suspect just fine. It seems that it is a newsworthy item and one that sould be used to encourage those who are frightened at the thought of using PCs, to give it a whirl. Then they will be able to join this bulletin board and make sly comments about one's advanced age and gender!!
I hope you will continue to stir up controversy, its fun, and trust that everything goes well in your beautiful corner of the world. Say hello to Nessie.
Warmest regards from Connecticut
jim
Posts: 21 | From: Cheshire, Connecticut, USA | Registered: Oct 2001 | IP: Logged
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