Hey Listers :
Apparently never cracked the Real3D V1.4 inner circle according to what I can
remember , but still , perhaps thepath that eventually led me to Real3D is a
story worth tossing (again) .
Somehow feel the need to begin with an overly detailed background history
about the early days , and Miicrosoft and how things came to be (from my
personal perspective) . Take it for what it's worth . Maybe something to lookat
as your RS renderings are slowly post-processing on your 12 core CPU .
The Long And Winding Road ...
Worked for an engineering firm doing field data gathering & handling during
the early to late-80's . The engineers anddata handlers had PC's that featured
DOS initially (which was very fast on Intel 80286 processors) . DOS was not
very"user-friendly" though (a newly coined term of the time) , however it
worked very well for most of our particular needs .
Never heard any complaints personally about DOS in those days (except from
Apple users), circa 1986 . Self taught 'Lotus 1-2-3' and theDOS/Intel combo ran
all spreadsheets instantly !!! There was no such thing as 'Lag' , even withsuch
a horrible 16 bit processor as the latest Intel offering , the 286-16 Mhz
(which made it a very slow machine forthe MS Windows we were all about to be
horribly subjected to in the next year or so) .
The in-house
(do nothing)
Tech advisor suggested we upgrade to Microsoft Windows Version 1.x in 1987 .
Computershop demonstrations instantly sold that nightmare to the 'Brass' and
all office workstations were immediately upgradedovernight so that we might all
have this new incredible operating system right at our very own desk(tops) !!!
Holy freakin' she-ite . What a piece of crap ! Turned out to be a fate worse
than death to work with .
Boot-times fromhell . Program launch times not fit for human consumption .
Wait times were very stressful for everyone , from thereceptionist to the data
analyzers to human resources and management teams .
Just an absolute joke . We hated it . The tech Guru started to sweat a little
, but his second to none ass kissing madeup for a multiple of (and very
possibly , kicked-backed) sins .
Obviously the almost 3 year old computers (IBM AT's) that had very slow 286
CPU's were part of the problem . 'The Computer Dealer' ran their Window's demos
on the latest 386 (of course) which had over twice the amount of tran-sistors
as the 286 . More on that later .
However ...
... however ... the nice clean pretty and polished GUI was indeed charming and
actually comforting to work with (somehow) once one got it all booted up and
launched finally .Something new and also exciting was to be experienced here
with this newproduct . MS Excel was a real treat on a 14 inch colour monitor,
but ... launch it and then go make a pot of coffee .
A mouse to navigate with instead of F-Keys or keyboard shortcuts . Colors ,
Icons , a 'User-interface' (another new term)that was very/very/very consistent
no matter where a user chose to explore (if they had more time than brains to
do so) .
Maybe if a person , perhaps was employed by a government agency or a
corporation etc , then I'm guessing the stressmight not have been so
dramatically experienced as those of us that had 'a certain amount of work that
had to be donewithin a certain amount of time' . To simply locate , and then
completely load a spreadsheet file was agonizing . Hard drivessounded like
gerbils running in a squirrel cage . Waiting - waiting - like the Second Coming
, it seemed to take forever .
DOS was a racehorse compared to Windows and would remain that way for quite a
while . Even when we bought allnew computers again , with 386's this time MS
Windows was still a slow hog . It was a 16 bit app running on top ofanother app
. Mac's and Amiga's had pure sleek , 32 bit operating systems
MS Windows was hell , but Bill Gates had a lot of clout and was able to push
his ridiculous product onto the hungry herd .MIcrosoft was like a Mafia , and
all sorts of underhandedness was very effective in eventually gaining an almost
completestranglehold in the marketplace .
It was like the wild, wild west again , with a brave new frontier just
opening up , and Bill Gates was the most connivin' ,most underhanded , 2-bit ,
horse-thievin' , cattle-robbin' dirtiest gunslinger in a brand new town full
of nuns andorphans . Like shooting fish in a barrel . Soon , 1000's of machines
a day would be sold with his new OS installed , allnice and shiny and very ,
very slow .
Enter 'The Mac'
I bought a Mac in 1986 and so was one of many who could compare the 2 systems
. Bringing my Mac-Plus to workmade me instant enemies with our in house Tech
Guru . My tiny Mac was a one box solution that had a built-in small ,hi-res
monochrome monitor . Just unplug the unit and pick it up by it's handle and
throw it in the passenger seat .
I ran MS Excel on it at lightning speed , almost as fast as DOS . The data
handlers would fight for the use of it when Iwent out in the field to gather
more data . It was a true Cadillac compared to the slow-as-molasses MS Windows
mule .I could not use the MS machines any longer in fact . I very simply could
not bear it and we did not have MS Excel forDOS , so it was my Mac or nothing
for me , which worked out well anyway .
I got very good at Excel and it's built-in Macro Programming language while
others just sat there staring at the nicecolour monitor waiting for their work
to finally load . Soon , the dedicated data handlers were coming to me for
helpwith Excel when I was actually just a part-time handler who much preferred
the outdoors to the office pettiness .
Eventually others in the office woke up and bought their own Macs also . Going
back to Windows after using a Macall day was like a kind of punishment for
them . The office Guru grew to thoroughly detest me (oh well) .
Still . the MS/Intel cartel made Motorola and Apple's efforts look like used
napkins at a rib-fest . In this emerging andpotentially huge new marketplace ,
Macs managed to grab and hold a certain part of that market but MS had
theirLion's share right from the 'Get-Go' . They had a growing mountain of
software and if you wanted it you had to runit on THEIR OS , for the most part
.
Lucky for some that MS signed an agreement to release a strategic portion of
S/W for the Mac also , and in exchangefor that , MS got to keep the 'Look &
Feel' part of Windows for V1.0 .
Stay Tuned for Part 2
GC
