Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> >   I believe this to be just a false memory in most cases. Do you have
> >   any
> > concrete examples?

> Boot DOS.  Boot Windows.  Compare the boot times.

  Yeah. Boot to Windows. Don't start the computer at all. Compare the times.

  No, we are not comparing apples to oranges here at all.

> Create a letter using WordPerfect 5.1.  Create a letter using Microsoft 
> Word 2003.  Including the time just to start the applications, WP51 
> starts quicker, and you finish quicker.

  So WP51 starts in 5 seconds and Word starts in 6 seconds, you spend
a half hour writing the letter in both, and when you are finished, you
have spent 1805 seconds in WP51 and 1806 second in Word. Yeah, maybe
you are right. It's slower to do it nowadays.

  (Naturally let's forget how long it takes to *print* that letter with
hardware of each era.)

> >   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.

> And when the automated updates screw the machine up, the user is 
> basically screwed.

  How exactly is this related to the topic?

> >   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.

> As I said, there are some tasks that are faster on modern equipment with 
> modern software.  But the majority of people need a word processor, a 
> spreadsheet, and access to the 'net.  Maybe presentation software.

  And those run much faster today than they did 15 years ago.

> >   Browsing the internet with a web browser? Fast and efficient nowadays,
> > sluggish 15 years ago.

> With a decent connection to the 'net, surfing the web 15 years ago was 
> generally faster, if only because the amount of crap that people put on 
> web pages was reduced.

  That's irrelevant with regard to whether *software* is faster today than
back then or not.

  Basically what you are saying there is equivalent to "it takes 1 second
for a 386 to open a 320x240 image, and 5 seconds for an AMD64 to open
a 32000x24000 image, hence the 386 is faster".

>  15 years ago, the big thing being talked about 
> was whether or not to use blink tags for $DEITY's sake.  Now it's all 
> about flash animations and dynamically updating web applications which 
> should *really* be implemented not using web technologies, but rather 
> using desktop development technologies.

  Still irrelevant with regard to whether software is nowadays faster
or not.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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