[Vo]:OFF TOPIC A prediction about future computers

[Jed Rothwell]

It is common knowledge that in the not so distant future hard disks 
will be replaced with solid state memory, and MPP architecture will 
become commonplace. No doubt computers will run thousands of times 
faster than they do now, just as today's computers run anywhere from 
1000 to 100,000 times faster than personal computers did circa 1980 
(my estimate -- I would like to see a more authoritative estimate).

Anyway, I would like to make a prediction about these upcoming 
machines. Despite the fact that they will run thousands of times 
faster, I predict that it will still take two minutes to turn Windows 
on. And to turn it off, for crying out loud! Why it takes so long to 
terminate a program is a mystery. The disk access light flutters and 
twitches, but the program gives no hint what it is up to. By the 
standards of 1980 these things are supercomputers and in two minutes 
you could probably enumerate every person in the U.S. Anyway, two 
minutes seems to be a built-in computer constant, along with the 
price of whatever computer you want to buy, which Dave Barry defined 
as: "$500 more than you hoped to pay."

- Jed