Robert Holmes wrote: > Here's a usability point I forgot about. I much prefer writing code on > the desktop than on the laptop because I can rotate the screen from > landscape to portrait. My code tends to be long rather than wide, so I > get to see more of it at once this way.
That made me think about how different uses require different user interfaces (and I don't mean GUI). I use a wide screen because I frequently have more than one app I'm using at a time (I can usually multi-track on three tasks at once). A co-worker uses three 20" LCDs instead of two 24" not because of cost but because when he looks at the center of his virtual screen he doesn't want to look at the bezels of two monitors. One application where it is nice to have multiple screens going is reverse engineering - you can have one that shows the state of the virtual network and servers, one that shows the software under RE, and another that shows the IDA Pro view and such stuff. Which brings me to one of the pieces of wisdom I have picked up in 23 years of buying and using personal computers - Put your money and interest into the parts that change the form of information. Keyboard, mouse, graphics card/monitor, disks, and, nowadays, USB drives and CD/DVD drives will be the most important to you. Get the best you can in those components and then use up the rest of your budget on the motherboard, processor, and memory. Sometimes I even put the memory in the list of primary importance. -- Ray Parks [EMAIL PROTECTED] IDART Project Lead Voice:505-844-4024 IORTA Department Mobile:505-238-9359 http://www.sandia.gov/scada Fax:505-844-9641 http://www.sandia.gov/idart Pager:800-690-5288 ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
