Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> If anything, it takes longer now to do things on a computer than it did 
> 10 years ago

  I believe this to be just a false memory in most cases. Do you have any
concrete examples?

> But as tools have gotten more complex, people's ability to use then 
> effectively has been reduced significantly.

  Really? I have noticed the exact opposite trend. Just in the Windows
side of the world, for example updating software is easier than ever:
In many cases the software updates itself automatically without you
having to do anything about it. Even if you have to start the updating
manually, it's usually pretty automated.
  This update doesn't require all your computer resources, but you can
nowadays actually do something else while it's updating, and you won't
even notice.
  If I want to open a gigantic image in basically any software, it takes
but a split second, while over a decade ago it could take a long time.
Making modidications to the image is extremely fast, while over a decade
ago it could take minutes.
  Want to edit the image at 1600x1200 resolution to get a larger editing
area? No problem. Over a decade ago you were lucky if you got a 1024x768
resolution, and that at an acceptable speed.
  Want to attach the image to an email (yeah, bad thing to do, but it is
something people do)? Kaboom -> Split second and there it is. Not waiting
for tens of seconds for it to do it.
  Want to watch some mpeg4-encoded video? It launches almost immediately
and playing it takes something like 20% of your CPU. If you like, you
can do other things while watching the video. Over a decade ago you
couldn't even play that kind of video because the computer was not
powerful enough. Even playing an mp3 could take most of the CPU time.
  And let's not talk about 3D modeling software and real-time previews
(just imagine using a software like Poser 15 years ago.)
  Video editing? You could just dream of it 15 years ago.
  Sound editing? Yes, perfectly possible 15 years ago, if you had the
time to wait. Today, a breeze.
  Browsing the internet with a web browser? Fast and efficient nowadays,
sluggish 15 years ago.

  Maybe it's just me.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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