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Friday, January 21, 2005

The New Paradigm
Y'know, looking over the posts and comments of the last few days, something's become obvious that should have struck me a while ago but didn't. Computing is dead. Not computers, we'll have them around in one shape or another for the rest of eternity --but computing itself has dried up and will soon blow away.

That moment of clarity came when reading comments from people who'd modifred their cell phones, their iPods, their TiVOs, who plan to modify their Mac Mini (which is not quite a computer, but somewhere between computer and gadget status), their almost every other gadget under the sun. That was computing. There was the same thrill of cheating the system, of discovery, that no longer surrounds computers. Oh, sure, there's the overclocker and the odd cooling schemes, but it's not the same as it was and I doubt it will ever go back that way again.

In some ways it's sad, but mostly it's heartening to realize that there is a karma even to technology.

Alice Responds: I don't think computing is dead, it's just changing and change is good. There are more CPUs in more devices than ever before. People who would never open a PC to install a PCI card are using digital cameras and sending text messages with their cell phones, and ripping MP3s of their old CD collections, and trying to understand HDTV, and on and on. True, it's not a hardcore audience we're talking about, but the people who build their own PCs (like me) are the ones who are now busy rigging up media servers, and building PVRs, and playing with movie-making and DVD burning, and modding out their cases.

If anything I spend more time with a computer or a device that connects to a computer than I ever have before. The day that motherboards started coming from Intel and USB and Firwire made hooking things externaly easier was the beginning of the change. But the complexity is still here and greater than ever before. Instead of IRQ conflicts, the challenge is making all these crazy devices work together, and we are a long way from there. If you'd like to install my new wireless security web cam for me, I can show you some computing! --Alice

# Permalink Posted at 6:44 AM 16 comments Email this Link

Comments on this Item:

"monify" should be "modify" I think?

# posted by LRSE Hosting 7:17 AM

Picky, picky, picky.... ;-)

# posted by Bill 7:30 AM

There was an article that I read recently (slashdot? Cringley? not really sure) that said just that: the PC is dead. It has become a "commodity" like a fridge or a stove. The thrill of tinkering with it is gone.

Todd3 (aka Gambit3)

# posted by ricardo 8:04 AM

I thought it was "Modifried" - the ancient Sumerian art of tweaking it till it breaks :)

Prang

# posted by Wizard Prang 8:55 AM

I beg to differ Old Boy. I will always build my PCs (maybe even a laptop - someday). It's too much fun to buy all of the parts (lots of smaller boxes are better than one or two big ones), plug them into the MB "my way", fire it up for the first time and say "it's alive". Yes it costs more, yes it's not as safe, no I can't call someone to fix it if it gets cranky, but that's part of the thrill. What can I say, I'm hooked on the suffix OEM.

As for the comments, if you can't stand the rant...

Seriously, I don't see hate or indifference, just a difference of opinion. Heck I'm biting my tongue right now.

Isn't that the whole idea: to hear what others have to say. You can either 'splain yourself to the Tods, or not, it's your blog.

Hey, it will never be the same, I've tried it. I resurrected an old 486DX50 and when dosshell came up I grinned and played with it for half an hour, and then I put it back in the closet. Maybe I'll show it to the grandkids in a few more years (they'll be 3 this year).

Open the Lab/Basement door, take a deep breath, and forget that paradigm crap, computing is not dead, not by a long shot.

WRM

aka: Ward Massey

# posted by WRM 9:10 AM

I hate it when it does that

# posted by WRM 9:11 AM

They've been saying the same thing about cars for years.

I suspect 20 years from now MTV will have Pimp My PC!

# posted by MissingFrame 9:35 AM

Ward, I haven't bought a PC since my first IBM PC purchased from Sears back in '82. Even then, the $1,800 only bought me the CPU, 16K RAM, a MGD card, and 1 floppy. The rest I added after the fact. But does that mean I'm wrong? Nope. It's anecdotal data, just as is you saying that you'll always build your own PCs. The sad truth is that most of the world isn't like you and me (and, I suspect the majority of the folk who read this blog), hence, the observation based on statistical data.

And yeah, Blogger.com seems to be suffering lately from some wierdling malady. The double comments from cancelling and then re-submitting comments are a pain.

(And welcome back.)

# posted by Bill 10:06 AM

There has been a sincere paradigm change in dealing with cars. I can go out to the garage (if it was warmer) and go elbow deep into the engine bay with a few wrenches and a socket set. To do that with the '95 Z28 I owned I'd need a code reader and a laptop.

I doubt, however, that FunkMaster Flex will be pimping PCs...

# posted by Bill 10:10 AM

Bill, funny you should mention the car/laptop relationship. Here is another area where computing is definetly not dead. With all of the programmable chips, etc. for cars and trucks out there these days (compared to ten years ago), these two worlds have collided.

Good to be back, been doing some serious "bug hunting" for Monolith in the "Matrix Online". Hopefully they won't have to push back the release date a fourth time.

Regarding enthusiasts I think the percentages stay the same: those people that can't help but disassemble their toys, and those that wouldn't dare (and all the ones in between). With the internet being so much easier to use, the wouldn't dare crowd is able to participate more.

In my business of building cabinets it's a tough pill to swallow, but we have to do a lot of "educating" when it comes to the general public that isn't required when dealing with the commercial side. 'Sucks, but if you want their money...

# posted by WRM 11:55 AM

Don't confuse simply using computers with computing. No one (that I know of at least) says they're VOM-ing just because they're using a volt/ohm meter.

# posted by Bill 1:01 PM

I'm feeling schitzo about the whole computing thing. To wit:

I just built another new ADM64 computer and it's got enough power to run much of Europe, but I use it for MP3s, Word docs and goofing with my Blog. It's like buying a hydrogen powered H2 to haul the garbage to the street corner. I have more Gigs than I'll ever ever use, and I hyperventilate and begin to sweat if my disk space is any more than 10% used. So I add more. In that sense, computing is alive, though in a scary way.

On the other hand, I had a CompUSA gift card for about 5 months and I went in there time and time again, desperately searching for something to buy, but walked away empty handed each time. There's such tripe there. How much excitement can we squeeze out of a freekin neon fan? Does a neon fan that blinks make it better? Anyone remember how fast the html tag < blink > went through its life cycle?

IMO, I think the whole "modding" thing spasmed and died the instant WalMart and Target started carrying little mod items like neon trinkets, etc.. It went from hot to not in one fell swoop.

I'm anxiously awaiting the day we can blog about how our 10GHz lapel-pins can be used as city-wide personal media broadcast servers. Though it may never happen. Lapel pins are so passe'.

# posted by Jason in Oregon 5:44 PM

My bad, I've lived in California all my life (except for years I was away in military) so I sometimes forget about the 49 state vehicles.

Case in point: my brother - he buys a new F250 4x4, lifts it 10 inches and puts 38" tires on it, but in runs like... So he buys an aftermarket "chip" and reprograms pretty much everything from the fuel system to the transmission, it runs really good. Problem is it won't the smog test without deprogramming everything, no problem since the OEM config. is one of a few in the RAM of the command module and can be changed almost on the run.

I think that this meets the modify/tweak, cheating the system criteria.

Now I haven't been to the "street races" in decades, but I hear that those little tuner cars owe a lot of their performance to computing.

(wasn't that Jackie Chan in the Mitsu in "Cannonball Run")

# posted by WRM 7:48 PM

Computing has gone WAYYY past the garage built machines into the "everybody does it" mentality. I still get a thrill bringing somebody I meet into the computing fold. Even though they know about computers and have used them they just don't have the thrill we get when we talk about or tinker with computers. The fun of having a coworker or sombody ask for help with their computer is sure an ego boost but telling them HOW to do what they need and seeing them get the jazz doing it is better computing in my book.

# posted by JD 6:30 AM

I finally let all my computer mags lapse. Computers have become such a reliable tool, unlike the '90's, that I can't complain much. The software is very productive, and the machines are almost miraculously good. I think of computers as tools, now, and don't invest so much interest and emotion in them.

That said, I do find security and privacy issues both interesting and essential. But that moves us into the public arena of politics, doesn't it. Computing has entered the political stage, like it or not.

The other interesting thing about computing, is how essential it has become to communication in our world today. It is a social and business enabler. However, computers do not have the power to make us better people.

Will, from Lafayette

# posted by Anonymous 9:40 AM

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