My father gave my husband and me an Osbourne computer for a wedding present in 1982. It ran straight out of the box, was self contained, portable, (my husband took it to the law library on a regular basis), was a CPM system, ran word star, a spread sheet, and I don't recall what else. We used it until it ate my Master's thesis twice. My older brother still has it in his attic and if the floppies haven't completely fallen apart, my guess is that it would still run- although the tiny 6 inch or so screen would make us all crazy (or maybe not-bigger than an IPOD touch)!
Leah Leah Adams-Curtis Director of Assessment Knox College 2 East South Street Galesburg, IL 61401-4999 309-341-7260 -----Original Message----- From: Brandon, Paul K [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, October 07, 2011 9:44 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] Thank you Steve Jobs,but ........... Actually, M. Sylvester does have a point. Steve Jobs was not a technical innovator -- he was a promoter. I remember CPM and other microcomputer systems; my first computer was an AIM-65. What was different about the Apple was that: 1. It was not a kit; you unpacked it and fired it up. I got to the point that I could unpack one and get it working in five minutes. 2. It was marketed to homes, schools and businesses (the Apple III was ahead of its time here). 3. Mass marketing (plus Woz's genius at using cheap off the shelf parts) made it affordable. Again, it was not that digital music was unique. The internet in the 90's was a hobbyist thing, and downloading music didn't become a threat to the record companies for another decade. Again, what Jobs did was take a hobbyist gimmick and turn it into a mass market. So yes, it is unlikely that Michael S. would have an affordable consumer technology without Steve Jobs. Arthur C. Clarke's dictum is relevant here: 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' Digital audio and video is now magic as far as consumers are concerned. On Oct 7, 2011, at 8:25 AM, Mike Palij wrote: > On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 14:29:22 -0700. Michael Sylvester wrote: >> As the only mobile DJ on Tips(now performing) at Marcos El Bistro in Daytona >> Beach,Steve has made my job easier.The old days of carrying boxes of vinyl >> records to play on the the beach during Spring break took a toll on my >> turntables and other equipment.Even when cds emerged,it became a pain to ensure >> that there would be no skipping.But in this digital era,I can now store in >> computer files,then click and play.As facilitative playing music has become for >> DJ. > > Professor Sylvester, I have no idea what you think Steve Jobs did > in terms of actual contributions to information technology (however, > for a glimpse of his bullying administrative style, see this NY Times > article on his style as a "Boss"; see: > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/technology/steve-jobs-defended-his-work- with-a-barbed-tongue.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26 ). > > If you think that Jobs was somehow influential in the development of > digitally recorded music, you should clear up such misperceptions by > taking a look at the Wikipedia entry (yadda-yadda) on the development > of the mp3 format; see: > http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/07/technology/steve-jobs-defended-his-work- with-a-barbed-tongue.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha26 > Jobs and Apple are conspicuous by their absence. > Note that digital music in form of mp3 and other formats were widely available > on the internet during the 1990s, often "free" (i.e., no royalties were paid > to the artists or copyright holders) and Jobs just developed systems that > would "monetize" this situation and simplify the collection of royalties as > well as limit the use of the music (through the use of "digital rights management" > or DRM). For more on the history of the iPod see the Wiki entry: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipod > And for DRM, see: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Rights_Management > > Again, I don't think that Jobs did not do anything technically to earn > respect, he was just an overseer and marketer. Although people > make a lot of noise about the Apple II, few appear to remember that > that there were other systems available before Apple, notably computers > running the CP/M operating system -- for those unfamiliar with CP/M, see: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cp/mhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cp/m > Bill Gates & Co would use ideas present in CP/M in their development > of MS-DOS. > > CP/M allowed the use of serious software such as the wordprocessing > program Wordstar, the spreadsheet Muliplan, Turbo Pascal, dbase II > and so on. To get the Apple II to do serious work, one had to get a > special processing card for it that would allow one to run CP/M on > the Apple in order to use Wordstar, Multiplan, dbase II, etc. > Other computers and systems at the time included the Commodore > system, the Radio Shack TRS-Dos, etc. My first personal computer > was a KayPro with a full software package (Wordstar, dbase, etc.) > which made it a much better value than the Apple computers or > even the early MS-DOS machines. > > As for the "remarkable" Macintosh, all one had to do was compare it > next to an IBM PS/2 running the operating system OS/2 which was a > powerful windowing system which even ran a windows version of > SPSS that had all of the capabilities of mainframe versions (such as > that on the VAX and Wylbur -- the MS-DOS SPSS-PC was a joke > in comparison to OS/2 SPSS). For more background on OS/2 see > Wikipedia: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2 > OS/2 is still around but in specialized application like ATM machines. > Like Betamax in videotape, OS/2 did not catch on in popularity. > >> Dr.Mike,I think though, that Steve has killed Classic rock.In fact he >> probably killed other music too.I do not think that there is any substitute for >> the old vinyl versions of classic rock-the art work on the album covers,the >> musicians contributing to the songs,and reading a short bio of theartist and >> songs. I doubt that these young kids downloading today the Eagles,the London >> sessions of Led Zepellin, or Traffic (Live at the canteen) or Jimi Hendrix can >> read about the historical background when downloading to iTunes.Some kids >> still believe that Woodstock was a dope and for unlawful carnal knowledge party. > > I really have no idea what you're talking about here. All the kool kids can > get their tunes from a variety of sources, especially after the hackers and the > crackers break the DRM. > > I may be wrong but I don't think Jobs contributed much in the way of new > technology, theory, or equipment. I do believe he was an expert marketer > who, like his "The Big Chill" (it's a movie, rent it) contemporaries, sold out > his ideals for a little bit of heaven on earth for him and his own. I think he > accomplished this by making products for people who have too much discretionary > income and felt the need to buy "toys" that they really didn't need. For these > reasons, when I think of Jobs and "Apple Culture" I am reminded of Neil > Postman's book "Amusing Ourselves To Death". For those unfamiliar with > Postman, see the Wiki entry on him: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Postman > >> Thanks anyway Steve.Looking forward to iHeavenly tunes and and an >> iStairway to heaven version 2. >> Feedback requested. > > Whatever. > > -Mike Palij > New York University > [email protected] > > > > > --- > You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. > To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a64900b&n =T&l=tips&o=13201 > or send a blank email to leave-13201-13438.3b5166ef147b143fedd04b1c4a649...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13346.fd4eeaf6abdc74d8c3a37fbfbb055cd9&n =T&l=tips&o=13207 or send a blank email to leave-13207-13346.fd4eeaf6abdc74d8c3a37fbfbb055...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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