RANT: What exactly is a PC?

[oshunluvr]

[rant]I am sick and tired of the apparent co-opting of the term "PC" by users of the world's crappiest operating system and by companies that make software for that same crappy OS.

The last time I checked, "PC" stood for "Personal Computer" not "Personal Computer crippled by a bloated horrible OS and it's required ton of other bloat-ware like virus checkers and anti-ad-ware programs."

All of MY PCs run linux and they're still PCs.[/rant]

This emotional outburst brought to you by Maxis - The makers of SimCity. "One of the most popular games available for PC and Mac."

[NickStone]

Yes I agree with you.

Its all the fault of ignorant software companies, Microsoft themselves and non-computer literate people who make the mistake thinking that all PC's are Windows based PC's.

When I first learned about the PC back in the 80's they were known as IBM PC's then later we got IBM compatible PC's from companies such as Compaq then a few years later they become known as PC's like I said before from the group mentioned above.

[oshunluvr]

My first real "PC" ran DOS 3.1. Back then, Windows started as a program you ran.

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

WIN

[NickStone]

Yes those were the days. That version of DOS didn't have a move command and I created a simple batch file (for myself) combining the COPY and DEL command in order to move files. I was quite proud of that!

I also remember Windows back then was crap, mind you it still is today.

[oshunluvr]

Haha, yes DOS 3.3 and above were vast improvements. I remember (I think) DrDOS 4.02 (or something) as a big leap up from MSDOS. I can't remember when exactly, but somewhere between Dos 6.2 and Windows 3.0 I discovered OS/2. I stuck with that for several years until IBM stopped supporting it for regular consumers.

Side note: Met a CPA the other day and in casual conversation, she revealed that our local county school administration was still using a DOS based program to do payroll! This is a county of almost 10,000,000 people and their still using DOS! I was floored...

[NickStone]

Well in some ways DOS is/was superior to Windows at least in the sense that it didn't crash as much as Windows did / still does. The first word processor I ever used was a DOS based one called WordStar and thinking back to using that program I think it is / was better than some of the modern word processors we have now including Libre Office Writer.

I have a copy of FreeDOS that I downloaded a few years ago and I would install that if I had a collection of DOS programs I could use with it such as WordStar and SuperCalc.


Oh they were the days - happy days!

[Jonas]

yea, this annoy the hell out of me too. It's interesting how the term "PC" is still around as almost everyone carry a "PC" in their pocket, yet hardly any of those pocket "PC's" have the "PC" operating system. Confusing huh?

Hopefully it'll end with more software houses creating Linux compatible applications.

b.r

Jonas

[whatthefunk]

When I was a kid back in the eighties, this confused the crap out of me. We learned in school that PC stood for Personal Computer, but then we learned that the personal computers in the computer lab were Macs, not Personal Computers even though they were computers for personal use

[woodsmoke]

Yep, the times they have been changed by the wordsmiths and spinmeisters.

One of my students is one of the, I think 6, TOTAL programmers for Archer Daniels Midland ( foodbasket for the world used to be their logo) , and all of the information for ADM sales, harvesting, tonnages, you name it etc. and it is a ton of information....is moved.....worldwide...using RPG!

As to DOS still being around, a regional size lumber company in the midwest, for which I used to work, still uses DOS and the counter sales people and contractors have to learn HUNDREDS of multi-key commands to do things like sell a 2 x 4 -8.

Another fascinating little tidbit is that the "stepper" motors for "fun rides" in theme parks are all controlled by little computers the size of the old round watch, stick back put it on the side of the.....computer monitor! lol..... useing use a few hundred bytes in assembly language... there still is a small group of "nomads", used to be more, who go around reprogramming and programming the stepper motors, but, from what I've heard, they can now be network programmed using a gui.

interesting thread.

woodsmoke

[Achaean]

My first real "PC" ran DOS 3.1. Back then, Windows started as a program you ran.

AUTOEXEC.BAT:

WIN

Delete it! It's a virus. It wil destroy your DOS!
hehehe!!!

Side note: Met a CPA the other day and in casual conversation, she revealed that our local county school administration was still using a DOS based program to do payroll! This is a county of almost 10,000,000 people and their still using DOS! I was floored...

You'll be surprised, but there are many people around the world that still having FreeDOS production (older) machines.
I can recall that a hospital in Brasil was running FreeDOS intranet at their system and were posted for help at FreeDOS maillist.
Of course, the long term advise from the project members, is start moving to lightweight Linux distributions, for low-end older machines.
DOS is history. A history of happiness and glory. Our past.
Linux is the present. It's our llife.

Personally, I'm using DOSBOX with the addition of a few FreeDOS utilities, for running my old games.

EDIT
I was isnpecting my Kubuntu installed programs and I realized that I also have installed ScummVM.
I forgot it, because I'm not any more a heavy gamer.
Well, regarding DOS, all systems go!
hehehe!!!

[SteveRiley]

Eh, I'm hoping someday they'll release an upgrade for my stone knives and bearskins.

[Achaean]

Eh, I'm hoping someday they'll release an upgrade for my stone knives and bearskins.

Consider also to have a stacked pile of stones (to throw at enemies) and to practice howling at night (The full-moon howling is the best of all)! :-)
hehehehehe!!!! :-)

OK. Excuse me my bad sence of humor. :-)

Seriously now.
Ignorance and lack of information is a very serious problem and it's really difficult to deal with it.
The only solution (at my opinion) is the mobility of the local linux lugs.
Local lugs has very helpfull people worldwidth.
One can ask for help from them, on order to abandon (at last) the antiquity solutions and come to the 21st century digital solutions (Linux).
Otherwise, it's very difficult for an organization without money (like a poor hospital), to have the learning curve and train it's users in use of Linux.
Not to mention that choosing the right distribution to install is the very first difficult question to answer.

[Detonate]

The world is filled with Luddites.

[Achaean]

This is not the case, I think.
If they were Luddites, they won't ask for help to move to a Linux installation.