Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:00:59 -0400
From: "Mike B." <yahoo at omniphile.com>
To: wsfa-forum at yahoogroups.com, WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: [wsfa-forum] Old Tech
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

On 4/23/2013 12:19 PM, Michael Walsh wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 23, 2013 at 12:05 PM, Mike B. <yahoo at omniphile.com> wrote:

>> Much of the tech world knows more about tech than the guy who wrote that article.
>
> FWIW:
> "Benj Edwards is a freelance writer who specializes in computer and
> video game history. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Vintage Computing
> and Gaming, a blog devoted to vintage technology."

And this means what?

You'd be surprised how many writers about tech know little or nothing
about tech...that they didn't get from a press release, articles written
by similarly clueless writers, or hearsay.  They tend to be familiar
with common tech as users, but few actually understand what's behind it
or about any other areas.

It's that sort of thing that led to the IBM PC and MS-DOS and Windows
being leaders of the PC industry, despite the flaws, lack of innovation,
and really poor design that still haunts and limits us today, though
after 30 years of effort by tens of thousands, a lot of the pain has
been dealt with.  There were MUCH better systems available at the
time...but due to writing by uninformed writers working for BOTASMs
(Back Of The Airplane Seat Magazines) and other places read by similarly
ignorant decision makers, the market got defined by the clueless, and
everyone has suffered as a result.  Luckily, most are ignorant enough of
the alternatives that were passed up not to know how much suffering went on.

-- Mike B.