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Re: Major interview
Ah, my favorite topic: usability of old PCs!
Ray Olszewski wrote:
>
> Just a small thought about one of Jose's comments.
>
> At 06:30 PM 9/6/99 +0200, Jose C. Lacal wrote [in part]:
>
> >Also, Microsoft has been very successful in _convincing_ millions of
> >people (educators included) that they _need_ to upgrade to the latest
> >and greatest Microsoft OS, _whether their existing OS still gets the job
> >done or not_ I mean, I take my hat off to Sir Bill for his Marketing
> >skills. But, do schools really need to scramble for funds to buy new
> >Pentium IIIs with 128 MB RAM just to tun Windows 2000 when a 386 with
> >Win 3.x does 99% of the same job at NO extra cost to the school?
>
> I think this is a bit overstated. I'm a big fan of working to keep older
> equipment productive ... but I wouldn't dream of asking people to use '386s
> as full-featured desktop workstations unless financial pressures were
> severe. Based on the experiments I've been doing here this summer, I doubt a
> '386 (in a Linux setting) can even function decently as an XTerminal. (My
> son did just buy an old '386 for US$8, so maybe I'll have the chance to test
> this guess soon.) Even '486s are better used as Xterminals (or in non-GUI
> applications) than as full-fledged desktop machines.
>
Funny, I have been using 386s and even 286s for 03 years already as
fully-usable systems. Let me give you an example:
- a 386, 08 Mb RAM, 100 MB HD with DR-DOS 7.02 (free for schools) or
FreeDOS, with Arachne, plus something like the NewDeal office suite,
plus Monkey Linux, using the Crynwr packet drivers, an old NIC and a
cable modem = fast connection to the Net and full-blown office
productivity. For under US$100 in most cases. Less if you already own
the PC.
02 weeks ago in California I bought a (13 years old) Compaq 486 color
luggable computer. It has 32 Mb RAM and a 500 Mb HD. It came with
Windows NT 4.0 workstation. I sliced the disk and I now also run DR-DOS
and WfW 3.11 on a 100 MB partition. With all of the software I mention
above.
My business partner (Brendon) and myself used the 486 laptop to do some
impressive demonstrations of the OpenClassroom concept to a couple of
VCs we met with in Silicon Valley. The OpenClassroom (alpha) server was
running on my Celeron-powered Toshiba laptop (under Linux), and the
OpenClassroom client was running on the Compaq 486, under DOS.
> In fact, what schools have today is the real opportunity to upgrade their
> desktops quite cheaply. New low-end systems (the Emachine series is a
> familiar example) do offer good functionality in a Windows setting at
> moderate cost (US$400-500 per seat, if old monitors can be reused).
?? Maybe. If you look at the public schools in Dade County (Miami, FL),
they have around 50,000 "old PCs" in their schools now. So, let's follow
your example: 50,000 x US$400 = US$200 million. I would propose to you
that, for that kind of money, there has to be some other alternative to
"extend" the usable life of those "old" PCs.
My favorite analogy is to compare the PC industry to _any_ other
product-driven industry in the US. Let's say the dishwasher industry.
How many of you folks would __accept__ as a matter of fact that you must
dump your 03 year old, perfectly working, gets-the-job-done US$1,100
dishwasher just because the manufacturer wants to sell you a new one? Or
how about, Ray, if instead of re-using old cars in the US, everybody
were forced to renew their cars after 03 years because the manufacturer
(Ford, GM, etc.) doesn't want to "support" (make spare parts) for old
cars?
I have to add a disclaimer here: for the last 02 years I run a website
(http://www.volks-pc.org) where I promote the use of DOS-based software
to rescue the 100 million old PCs worldwide that can still be used for
99% of what a Pentium III does today (read e-mail, surf the web, do
office applications, accounting, etc.), at a hell of a lower cost.
> Beyond
> that, I'm looking forward to the imminent availability of quick-install
> desktop-oriented Linux distributions that convert this class of machine from
> Windows to Linux in a few minutes.
?? I must disagree with you here. I am as much a GNU/Linux geek as
anybody on the list, but I am convinced that GNU/Linux on every desktop
is the _wrong_ answer to the problem. For millions of SMEs (small and
medium-size enterprises), their existing PCs are unable to run
GNU/Linux. Even then, these people are NOT interested in becoming
worshippers in the Church of GNU. Those people (my brothers and parents
included) want to _use_ PCs as little as possible, get their stuff done,
and get back to their real business: running the business. DOS is easy
to use for them, they are familiar with it (how many people still use WP
for DOS out there?), and their existing DOS-based apps get the job done?
Why do they need to upgrade their hardware for?
Regards.
> ------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
> Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
> Palo Alto, CA ray@comarre.com
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
--
Jose C. Lacal, Chief Vision Officer
jose.lacal@openclassroom.org
http://www.openclassroom.org
OpenClassroom: bringing the power of OpenSource to Education.