Re: Mini-ITX PC's a the future of HA

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Hershel Roberson" <hrjunk01@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>
<ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> <snip>
> > I'm sorry, but I don't buy into the "dumb human" argument very deeply.

> <snip>
>
> I hear the "dumb human" argument more than I care to with respect to
> Windows.

I understand why Dean was making it.  From his perspective, he's probably
had support issues that turned out to be caused by people loading garbage on
their machines.  My experience has been that even a newly born Windows PC
with very little installed software can lock up for no immediately
discernable reason.  Again, as Dean pointed out, Windows is expected to run
on a very, very wide range of platforms, so driver issues and minor
incompatibilities are the inevitable result.  MS's kitchen-sink design
philosophy doesn't help matters, either.

> Last year, my wife was shopping for of an "upscale" sewing machine. In the
> process, she was getting the dog and pony show for a Windows based
machine.
> In the middle of the demo, the screen froze up, and the machine quit. The
> young lady giving the demo informed her that "since it's a computer, it
> locks up from time to time, so you just unplug it, then plug it back in".
I
> think its pretty bad that many people (or maybe even most), think that
this
> is normal, and expected. I also don't know what kind of a "dumb human"
thing
> might have caused this. (Maybe somebody installed the wrong video driver
?).

Thanks for very cogently demonstrating the point I was trying to make about
"expectations."   People just assume Windows machines are going to lock up.
There's an infamous example that's probably still circulating on the net
called "What if Microsoft made cars, not Windows" and goes on to detail what
you might expect from such a transition.  Here are the first few:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a
new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would
have to pull over to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut
off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue.
For some reason you would simply accept this.

> An yes, there is such a machine (I couldn't even make something like this
> up) see
>
http://www.berninausa.com/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444186
8438&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302025017&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=140847439
5181831&bmUID=1150731503052

We believed you, honest!  My wife still uses her model 66 Singer treadle
machine manufactured in 1925 because she likes the exercise.  There have
been a few issues over the years, but I expect it to reach 100 years old and
still be able to sew.

> The PC I'm using right now runs XP Professional. I recently installed an
XP
> update (actually an auto-update) , and Word quit running, so I had to go
to
> the MS web site, and spend a hour fixing Word. Perhaps I did something
> wrong, when I checked the "install update" checkbox, but I think the
problem
> is more likely the low quality of the software.
>
> My $0.02.

Lots and lots of people aren't happy with MS's update procedures, including
me.  The reports of the fixes making things stop working is so well known
that IT support people call MS patch days "Black Tuesdays" because they know
that crashes are not far behind.

Here are the rest of the "If MS made cars" paragraphs:

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your
car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to
reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable,
five times as fast and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five
percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be
replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning
light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and
refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned
the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced, car buyers would have to learn how
to drive all over again, because none of the controls would operate in the
same manner as the old car.

10. Oh yeah, and last but not least . . . you'd have to press the "Start"
button to turn the engine off!

--
Bobby G.