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Re: Old Computers



John Denker makes some good points, but so does Rick Tarara.

I think making advances in computer hardware and software presents a very
tough problem for the industry, and the consequences of their choices
trickle down to the users.

Rick Tarara's point about reverse compatibility but not "forward
compatibility" is what often drives us on my campus. Some persons or an
office group on campus get new computers with a new version of some
software (such as word processing). They have no difficulty reading the old
documents we send them, but we cannot read the new versions they send us
unless they saved the document in the old format. Sure they can do that,
but it is painful. (1) They have to remember to do it. (2) If they used
any new features, those features won't translate. (3) Every time they edit
then resave the document they will be reminded it is in the old format and
they will be asked if they want to keep it in the old format or switch to
the new.

I've been there enough to know that each time I deal with this it is a minor
irritation, but it happens on every document I want to share, so hits so
frequently it becomes a major irritation. I was pleased when the network
administrator decided to keep everyone on the old software until a certain
date, then switch everyone to the new. When we switched from Word 97 to
Word 2000, the whole campus did the switch in two or three days. That was a
whole lot better than the switch from 95 to 97 which occurred over a period
of one year and had the problems described above.

I suppose I will always feel Microsoft is making more money than they would
have to make, but our network administrator thinks our annual software
contracts for Windows and Office are reasonably priced. That contract along
with sound planning on his part has made both his job and my job easier, and
that's what computers are all about. For example, now we buy new computers
without Windows or Office installed. Hence, when an office gets a new
computer, it does not have the most recent applications as installed by the
vendor. Rather, our network administrator installs the versions used
campus-wide from a CD he has prepared. His CD also sets up e-mail and some
other things specific to our campus. I think what he is doing is fairly
common for organizations with good network people. I know that the local
elementary school where my wife teaches has a uniform system "ghosted" on a
CD. All incoming systems get a "carbon copy" of what everyone else is
running.

P.S. A problem we will face soon is a good number of lab interfaces that
plug into ISA slots on the computer. For over a year the college has been
buying new computers with zero ISA slots. These computers cannot trickle
into our labs unless we buy new interfaces for the lab equipment that will
use PCI or USB connection to the computer rather than ISA. At the present
time PCI and USB is not even an option for some of our lab interfaces

Was this an industry plot to force us to but new stuff? I don't think so.
If my memory is correct, computer mother-boards were coming out with both
ISA and PCI slots for somewhere around 5 or 7 years before the ISA began to
disappear. How long are new computer buyers going to be willing to pay the
price (both dollars and reduced slots) to keep a few ISA slots for those of
us using equipment that might be 10 to 15 years old? At some point the ISA
slots have to disappear.


Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817