On Sunday, May 5, 2002, at 09:30 PM, munker wrote: >> While the progress of the web doesn't lock older machines out as >> quickly as >> software updates and upgrades, it will continue advancing and will >> require >> updates that will be beyond the ca. >> >> Can anyone still use Netscape 1? Yes, but it doesn't have support for >> frames. Netscape 2 or 3? Yes, but its security certificates are >> outdated, so >> you can't use 128-bit security sites. Netscape 4? Yes, but it doesn't >> support a number of key web standards correctly (CSS, DOCTYPE). In far >> less >> than ten years, web sites will use different revisions of Java and >> JavaScript and possibly XML, which will require you to upgrade your >> browser >> to Netscape 8 or Explorer 10 or other browsers (iCab, Opera, OmniWeb) >> and >> their system requirements will all be higher (Mac OS X 10.6?) which >> will in >> turn require higher hardware requirements (600MHz? G4? 512MB RAM?). > > > That's what I don't like. Can't these guys make revisions without > junking > my existing investment in hardware? > > You would think progress would be better programs using less resources.
In the good old days, when RAM cost hundreds of $$'s per MB, and no one had more than 2 or 4MB, this was the case. You had an extremely finite amount of RAM (sometimes less than 1MB). I learned programming on a Commodore 64. I had to make my entire program fit inside 64K of RAM (luckily, the C64 didn't have much in the way of OS overhead.... it didn't really even have one!). And maybe I had enough cash to upgrade my computer to more RAM, but chances are that the people who want to use my app won't be able to afford it. Nowadays....... RAM is cheap, so people don't optimize their code the way they used to. That said..... no amount of optimization will ever fit even a semi-modern web browser into 64k of RAM. Another great example of time marching on... some softwares (or hardwares) require something new, that didn't even exist a year or so ago. Great example: the math co-processor, aka the FPU. I spent more than $10,000 on my original Mac setup (when I say original, I mean original; 1984). A few years later, Photoshop came out........... and it required this new gizmo called an FPU. I could have spent several thousand more in trying (in futility, I later learned) an FPU into my beloved Mac. Or I could just buy a Mac IIci. So, I sold my Mac for something like $7000, and bought a Mac IIci. Time marches on.... Networking becomes all the craze, and desktop publishing gets bigger. Laser printers had been around for a while, but had been a novelty pretty much since their inception (not to mention that, at the time, impact printers had them beat on quality). Sharing files with other computers? But my files were too big to fit on a floppy...... so we all plopped down for these things called ethernet cards (token ring). And we all quickly learned that if we turned off any one computer in the ring, the whole network went down. The printer was a network printer (will marvels never cease!) and when the network went down, because one computer was off, we couldn't print. Suck... So we all ran out and bought different ethernet cards; this wild new thing called 10baseT, and it uses phone cabling! Oh wait, no it doesn't.... there's more pins on this damned thing.... and OH CRAP!!! The printer is token ring only! Do we buy a new one (the damned thing cost $15,000 to begin with) or.... then we learned about network bridges. Fast forward to today.... I do pretty much the same kind of graphic design work I did back then, only now I do color retouching (didn't have to do that, then; my screen was black and white, and I assigned colors to jobs and told the print bureau what they were.... I didn't see it in color until I got the final product). Color monitor is kind of necessary, but since it wasn't back then, and it was cheaper to get a computer with a Black & White card, that's how I got mine (well, 16 grayscales, not really black and white, per se). The IIci (if given a color graphics card, which most have) does pretty much everything I do now; graphic layout, email, and web browsing. By your logic, I should just stick with that. I didn't, I bought a PowerBook G4. Why? Have you ever color retouched on a IIci? If you think downloading huge files on a 28.8 modem is slow, you ain't seen nuttin' yet...... if downloading a 5MB file on a 28.8 is a "make yourself a sandwich" operation, a simple gaussian blur on a IIci is a "take a 3 day weekend" operation. The serial ports on a IIci (IIRC) only support up to 14.4 anyway, so on the internet, I'd be kind of screwed. I could go ethernet on my cable modem, but DHCP didn't exist back then, and MacTCP is a horrible DHCP citizen. I don't believe that a IIci supports Open Transport, but I haven't tried. I got a PowerBook G4 because of time; faster internet access, faster web page rendering, faster graphic layout, faster.... you get the point. Every minute I'm waiting on my computer, that's money I could be losing. "My competitors only take 5 billable hours to do a job that takes me 16" is not a viable marketing strategy for a freelance graphic designer... -- The iMac List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | - Epson Stylus Color 580 Printers - new at $69 | & CDRWs on Sale! | SPECIAL LIST PRICES - Apple iMac CDROMs from $79.99, iMac DVD CDROMs from $99.99 3 port USB Hub $14.99, 40GB Hard Drive Upgrades $119 <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> iMac List info: <http://lowendmac.com/imac/list.shtml> Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/imac-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
