Twenty Years a PC Curmudgeon

摘要

Having just upgraded to a new PC, I realize that it has been just about twenty years since I started using a computer. Why is it that when somebody acquires a new house, car, or TV, people offer their congratulations, but when it is a new computer, what they tend to provide are condolences? I will tell you why. It is because a computer upgrade often requires a long and tedious process to get back to where you were before the upgrade, if you are ever able to get back there at all. I would like to note up front that I upgraded because I had to, not because I wanted to. Some new software programs I added to my old machine were simply too much for the hardware, although it is only three years old. It appears that once you climb on the treadmill of ever-more-complex operating systems (OSs) eating up the increased MIPS of ever-faster processors and increased megabytes of ever-denser memory, you're stuck. This is not a treadmill I am particularly happy to be on.