From: mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539)
Subject: Re: Some more misconceptions regarding OS/2 and NT
Organization: Texas Instruments Inc
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 20:30:09 GMT

In <1992Aug19.164744.4349@cbnewsh.cb.att.com> rkl@cbnewsh.cb.att.com (kevin.laux) writes:

>In article <1992Aug18.162641.13575@mksol.dseg.ti.com>, mccall@mksol.dseg.ti.com (fred j mccall 575-3539) writes:
>> Well, my first computer HAD floppies, but let's look at that assertion
>> a minute.  By switching from tape to floppy, I got faster load times,
>> random access reads/writes, etc.  Now, what do I get from having a
>> CD-ROM that might be useful to me?  The ability to load the Windows/NT
>> SDK.  That's it.  It's not worth buying a CD-ROM drive for.

>	You can't find *anything* else that comes on CD-ROM that would be
>useful to you?  This is the Information Age and there's tons of it.  Have
>any inclination to work with Mulimedia?  Video, audio and graphics take up
>a hell of a lot of space, even compressed.

No, I have no interest in the fad of multimedia that several companies
would like to push.

>> >Would you have us still living in the world of cassette tapes for data
>> >storage, where load times were measured in minutes for even the smallest
>> >applications.
>> 
>> YOU CAN'T WRITE TO A FRIGGING CD-ROM!  Why is it that folks at
>> Microsoft don't seem to be able to understand that?  WHY WOULD I WANT
>> TO BUY A MASS STORAGE DEVICE THAT I CAN'T WRITE TO?

>	For Massive amounts of data that you don't want to even inadvertantly
>destroy or overwrite.  Hey, there *are* advantages to read-only media.  I
>don't have to make a backup copy and so don't have *twice* the amount of
>floppies to store THAT I CAN'T WRITE TO, or else I lose the software and the
>bucks I put out to buy it.

And then when you're done with it, you have all those floppies to
reuse.  Try that with CD-ROM.

>> This isn't an upgrade to a newer technology, and it is NOT cheaper for
>> me.  It might be much more convenient for YOU, but that's Microsoft's
>> problem, not mine.  I CANNOT WRITE TO A CD-ROM.  THEREFORE, THERE IS
>> NO REAL REASON TO BUY ONE EXCEPT FOR ARROGANT VENDORS WHO SEEM TO
>> THINK THEY CAN FORCE THEM ON PEOPLE.
>> 
>> Do you get it yet?

>	Arrogant Vendors?  Forcing CD-ROM drives on people?  Pure opinion;
>lack of supporting data.  Gee, I guess all the software vendors distributing
>on CD-ROMs all have large stakes in the CD-ROM hardware manufacturers.  Why
>else would they force CD-ROMs on customers?  :)

Because they figure to make money in Multimedia and/or push their OS
as supporting Multimedia?  Except, of course, for Multimedia to go
anywhere you pretty much have to have a CD drive.  Do you see the
picture yet?  The chimera of Multimedia hasn't been enough to convince
people to jump on the bandwagon or to take the plunge for CD drives,
so big vendors look for other ways to exert a bit of pressure.  And of
course, once all the DEVELOPERS have to have CD-ROM, why it's only a
matter of some time before THEY start writing software that needs it,
too.  

Microsoft Marketing.  The name of the game.

>	Lastly, you could always use the CD-ROM drive to play Audio CDs while
>you work or play.

I don't listen to music while I work.  And if I did, I have a CD
attached to the STEREO, where it belongs.  :-)


-- 
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to live
 in the real world."   -- Mary Shafer, NASA Ames Dryden
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred.McCall@dseg.ti.com - I don't speak for others and they don't speak for me.