OT: "Real" world computer use

[pjduplooy]

A couple of questions....

 

1. Do you use your TI for "real" world applications? (do you use it in your work?)

2. What computers do you use in your work? (Mac or PC?)

3. Desktop, laptop/notebook or tablet?

 

My answers:

 

1. Do not have a TI

2. Mac and PC

3. Desktop for serious GIS and Image analysis, MacBook for lighter GIS work, Laptop for Linux experimentation, and tablet for mobility.

 

[sometimes99er]

1. No. I'd like to push the TI "look and feel" to the new world (desktops, tablets and phones).
2. Mostly PC/Windows.

3. All of the above (even if we're only talking work). Personally desktops are Windows 7, tablets are Android and iPad and phones are Android and I might consider iPhone in the near future.

 

Edited April 7, 2014 by sometimes99er

[RobertLM78]

1. As recently as 1998 I was using the TI still for real work - but not very much . I always like to see old the machine do something beyond gaming though .

2. PC (GNU/Linux)

3. Desktops and a rather old laptop.

[TheMole]

1. No, last time I did that was probably in 1997 when I used it to resolve graphs for my math courses. Simple @pesoft XB programs with the graph to be plotted translated in XB calls.

2. Mac (primary personal machine), Linux (development machine for non-TI development), Windows (Work laptop, although we will be allowed to move to Macs soon!)

3. The Mac is a mac mini (so desktop machine), all other computers are laptops. Tablets and smartphones are all Android (and of the Nexus variety at that)

[+mizapf]

1. Including the Geneve - no, last time was for my diploma theses in 1994 when I used Fortran9640 to create plots for complex analysis. Maybe I did some TI-related text processing some more time. I use my Geneve nowadays for testing / comparing with the MESS emulations

 

2. Linux PC (openSUSE), with Windows in a VirtualBox

 

3. Most of the time desktop, laptop for my lectures, tablet while riding the train / lying in bed etc.

[Retrospect]

I've got a real TI upstairs sealed in a box never used ... needs USA to UK power converter & adaptor for modern TV.

I'm very quirky .... whenever I have to do any calculating on the computer, I don't tend to use the calculator software , I boot up Classic99 and use the TI99/4 Equation Calculator. I use that to work out my finances from time to time, but that's the only 'real life' use it gets in 2014.

For everything else I have an Acer 5315 with Linux ... I watch video on it, 'cos I don't watch normal everyday TV. For out and about I have an MSI Wind with Xubuntu OS, it's quite snappy.

[+Vorticon]

1- In college (early 80's) I created a plain TI BASIC program (I did not own XB at the time) to help me analyze data from my neurobiology experiments. I had no PEB or printer, so I had to painfully transcribe the results from the screen to paper. Those were the days I also used the TI to analyze and report raw behavioral screening scores for my practice back in the late 1990's. Much faster than doing it by hand and far cheaper (i.e free since I programmed it myself in XB) than the commercial scoring and reporting software pushed by the screening company. Sadly, that was the extent of my professional use of the TI.

2- Windows PC's exclusively. Let's face it: for large non technology related entities, PC's are cheap, and Windows is very easy to use with lots of software options. Linux in nice but is still too intricate for the average user and with far less software choices. As for Mac's, well cost remains the main barrier...

3- Desktops and laptops. Tablets are starting to make some in-roads, but there are still a lot of connectivity and security issues (particularly in the medical field) to resolve before they are widely adopted.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Vorticon

[matthew180]

1. If you count creating the F18A as a "real world application" then yes, otherwise no. Vorticon, who claimed not to have done anything recently, does hardware interfacing with his TI. At the last TI Faire he demonstrated is TI-controlled Robot Arm. I consider that "real world". Anyone here working on hardware or software for the TI is doing real world work IMO.

 

2. If you mean "work" as one's day job, then I have no choice, it is an x86 laptop running Win7. For my personal work I use a mix of systems running Windows, OSX, FreeBSD, and even Linux in one instance. These do not include the dedicated systems though, like the 99/4A, CV, Toshiba MSX1, Atari 800XL, etc. which all play a part in my personal work from time to time.

 

3. x86 boxes, MacMini, iMac, iPad, HP Touchpad (Android), iPhones.

 

I tend to use what works and I don't typically care about who made it or what it is running, unless the hardware/software makes it difficult to use for a task. iPhones get the job done nicely, but so far I dislike all tablets since there are none which provide a software developer with even the most basic facilities. It strikes me strange that software developers would not make a tablet for software developers... Apparently everyone in the world is a media "consumer" only.

[TheMole]

2- Windows PC's exclusively. Let's face it: for large non technology related entities, PC's are cheap, and Windows is very easy to use with lots of software options. Linux in nice but is still too intricate for the average user and with far less software choices. As for Mac's, well cost remains the main barrier...

 

I don't really agree with that, Linux is often just as easy or easier for the average user (browsing, email, watching movies, simple word processing, ...), and if you don't use cracked software there's probably a richer ecosystem of free software available for Linux than for Windows (again, for basic usage). I do agree that for a lot of computer enthousiasts Linux falls into that awkward category where if you want to thread of the beaten path just a little bit you'll need to learn some things that Windows can do with one or the other little program from the internet without much prior knowledge. Then on the other end of the spectrum, for those "in the know" Linux is typically considered much more usable than Windows.

[+Vorticon]

 

I don't really agree with that, Linux is often just as easy or easier for the average user (browsing, email, watching movies, simple word processing, ...), and if you don't use cracked software there's probably a richer ecosystem of free software available for Linux than for Windows (again, for basic usage). I do agree that for a lot of computer enthousiasts Linux falls into that awkward category where if you want to thread of the beaten path just a little bit you'll need to learn some things that Windows can do with one or the other little program from the internet without much prior knowledge. Then on the other end of the spectrum, for those "in the know" Linux is typically considered much more usable than Windows.

 

In the real world, most people hear about Linux and promptly cross themselves But seriously, I think the main drawback to Linux when dealing with a large work force is the fact that most people still use Windows at home, are familiar with its apps (email, IE, Office etc...) and generally know their way around it to varying degrees. Linux on the other hand feels very unfamiliar to the uninitiated, particularly if one wanders away from the basic apps. In a work environment, you need to maximize efficiency, and there is no benefit to risking confusion among even a small percentage of the work force by using Linux when a perfectly good and familiar alternative exists.

For home users, it's a different story and many might be willing to experiment with an alternative OS on their own free time without productivity pressures.

[TheMole]

But seriously, I think the main drawback to Linux when dealing with a large work force is the fact that most people still use Windows at home, are familiar with its apps (email, IE, Office etc...) and generally know their way around it to varying degrees. Linux on the other hand feels very unfamiliar to the uninitiated, particularly if one wanders away from the basic apps. In a work environment, you need to maximize efficiency, and there is no benefit to risking confusion among even a small percentage of the work force by using Linux when a perfectly good and familiar alternative exists.

 

Actually, I think there's definitely some efficiency benefits to be had from splitting what people use at home and what they use at work. Linux is often foreign enough to be associated with the workplace and Windows can easily take the role of the day-to-day fun-at-home OS. The short learning curve associated with the new environment ('cause henstly, if you're using a computer, what does it matter where you run Chrome or Firefox, right?) should be easily offset by the potentially more restricted environment of the rest of the OS.

 

Either way, I personally believe the discussion (although fun) is meaningless anyway, as more apps are moved to the web and personal smart devices...

Edited April 7, 2014 by TheMole

[slinkeey]

1. No

2. Windows 7, Linux, IBM i

3. Work: Desktop for Office, Laptop for being away from my desk. --- Personal: Desktop & Laptop

 

 

I tend to use what works and I don't typically care about who made it or what it is running, unless the hardware/software makes it difficult to use for a task. iPhones get the job done nicely, but so far I dislike all tablets since there are none which provide a software developer with even the most basic facilities. It strikes me strange that software developers would not make a tablet for software developers... Apparently everyone in the world is a media "consumer" only.

I am with you on using what works.. I used to avoid Microsoft. Well I am being supplied a Windows phone, so I make it work for what I need. Would that have been my choice? Nope, but i'm fine with it.

 

The only reason why I avoid Apple products is because I am not wealthy. My wife won an iPod Touch, and it does what she needs.

Edited April 7, 2014 by slinkeey

[+arcadeshopper]

A couple of questions....

 

1. Do you use your TI for "real" world applications? (do you use it in your work?)

2. What computers do you use in your work? (Mac or PC?)

3. Desktop, laptop/notebook or tablet?

 

My answers:

 

1. Do not have a TI

2. Mac and PC

3. Desktop for serious GIS and Image analysis, MacBook for lighter GIS work, Laptop for Linux experimentation, and tablet for mobility.

 

 

1 - no not anymore used too but not since say windows 95 years..

2 - PC with linux or windows 7

3 - desktops and android tablet

[+mizapf]

 

I think the main drawback to Linux when dealing with a large work force is the fact that most people still use Windows at home, are familiar with its apps (email, IE, Office etc...) and generally know their way around it to varying degrees. Linux on the other hand feels very unfamiliar to the uninitiated, particularly if one wanders away from the basic apps. In a work environment, you need to maximize efficiency, and there is no benefit to risking confusion among even a small percentage of the work force by using Linux when a perfectly good and familiar alternative exists.

 

I agree with your analysis, but it also makes me deeply worried. This is - in my view - a proof that the idea of a market economy is flawed, in particular as soon as people do not (dare to) choose independently. When social factors come into play, there is no real selection according to market mechanisms.

 

Imagine we were to design an OS that were to endanger Windows' prevalence. How must such an OS look/feel like to become popular on a large scale? I'm afraid the answer is: as soon as this OS perfectly looks and feels like Windows. Any kind of change, maybe for the better, is always in trouble of being rejected just for the reason of being different. People don't want to bother about how to use their computer.

 

In the 90es I was a big OS/2 fan, while people were still trying to get their Windows 3.11 working. OS/2 did many things pretty differently, and it featured a very modern kind of user interface with object-oriented concepts. It was technically far ahead of Windows at that time (true 32 bit pre-emptive multitasking etc). What happened - people mainly ignored it and waited for Windows 95. The story continued while I changed to Linux at the end of the old millenium.

 

To be fair, I think there is actually another chance to convince people for an alternative: as soon as they can use the same applications as on Windows. So Microsoft was very clever to not port their Office to Linux, and I guess they won't ever do that, or if they ever do, they've already given up Windows.

[+Vorticon]

There is unfortunately too much invested in Windows for most corporations, hospitals etc... to consider a radical change in OS. For health care facilities in particular, there are simply no Electronic Medical Records solutions for OS's other than Windows, so there is really no choice at all there.

For good or for bad, Microsoft is here to stay short of a major blunder. Personally, I think Windows does the job it needs to and seems to be evolving with the times, so I'm not losing too much sleep over it. Besides, there is always the TI to fall back to

[Tursi]

1. Do you use your TI for "real" world applications? (do you use it in your work?)

 

Hobby only, although I demonstrated several of my TI projects to help land my current job.

 

 

 

2. What computers do you use in your work? (Mac or PC?)

 

PC - both Windows and Linux. My desktop has both machines setup for simultaneous use, sharing keyboard and mouse. (For what it's worth, I'm in the know and I don't consider Linux easier to use than Windows - I've always kind of been curious at the use cases of people who insist this?) Lots of people here also use Mac.

 

Correction: sorry, you said "more usable", not "easier to use". I'm not sure how I'd quantify that. I definitely have to think less on the Windows side.

 

 

3. Desktop, laptop/notebook or tablet?

 

Yes. (Actually I don't own a tablet yet.)

Edited April 7, 2014 by Tursi

[Ed in SoDak]

I used the TI for many years to time darkroom processes. Eleven sequential timed steps to make a print from a slide, just touch a single key to begin timing. Wrote a lot of newspaper articles using Funnelweb, transmitted to work with Telco or with a BBS on the TI.

 

All Mac now. Over the years, only two were purchased new. Some were free, only needing a few capacitors or other parts to repair.

-Ed