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Computers suck

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Network World Fusion 03/29/04

It's one thing for your computer to crash when you're sitting at your desk. It's quite another to have it crash when you're 45 feet under water. Larry O'Brien describes an undersea crash of a smallish computer used to let divers know how much time they have left to safely get back to the surface (fortunately, he also has some backup analog devices to tell him the same thing):

"Here's my point: computers suck. They're unreliable, expensive, difficult to use, incomprehensible when functioning, and utterly useless when they fail. I've never had a pressure gauge fail on me. I've never had a depth gauge fail on me. Such things happen with analog gauges, but I wager the rate of computer failures to analog failures is hundreds if not thousands to one. ... "

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Comments

Wow, you say computers suck even though you use one to write your article.. You said they crash a lot and are difficult to use. Are you 70? Just because you're not smart enought to use a computer doesn't mean they suck....

Posted by: Anon on April 5, 2004 01:58 PM

The previous comment was posted by someone who just doesn't get it.

Posted by: private on April 6, 2004 09:03 PM

Use the right tool for the job, whether it is analog or digital doesnt matter. but It true that people depend too much on the latter.


--chris

Posted by: Christopher Evans on April 23, 2004 06:08 AM

"anon" must be a kid in school or college like i once was. Until i started working in system administration, i liked computers. Now I despise them.

Posted by: anonymous on June 1, 2004 03:00 PM

I totally agree. i used to like computers but now I want to destroy them.

Posted by: on June 17, 2004 10:35 AM

In reference to the 4/5/04 posting:

You bring up the subject of being "not smart enough." Clearly, the people who love computers so much aren't smart enough to make them really usable by the average person. Often they are not even smart enough to realize that when people say "computers suck," it is a common expression referring to this fact. If the designers of the Golden Gate Bridge had been so brilliant, we'd be swinging on monkey bars from S.F. to Marin, and blamed for our lack of gymnastic skills if we didn't make it.

Posted by: anononon on June 28, 2004 03:57 PM

I too unfortunately work in sysadmin and I too liked computers at once until i started working with them every day. computers do suck, but what sucks the most is the users. they are ignorant, stupid, and call you up for any thing in the world. they think it's your job to help them get their work done. well guess what, a sysadmin's job is to run the SYSTEM, not remember your stupid yahoo password. too bad most of the stupid users out there won't ever read this message because they are too stupid to even know what a browser is.

Posted by: anon on July 19, 2004 11:48 AM

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