On Wed, 10 Feb 1993 22:48:41 +0100 Eric Thomas said:
>That is not why I reacted the way I did. One of the main purposes of this
>list is the exchange of technical information. Many list owners are not
>computer professionals and this list allows them to solicit advice from
>more technically knowledgeable people so that everyone can benefit. There
>is nothing shameful in not being a computer expert if your job is to
>teach philosophy.
On that note, I will continue...
>on some forum their attribute some credibility to, think "oh my god in 2
>years at most LISTSERV will be gone, I better move my lists to something
>else before I get stuck", and create a self-fulfilling prophecy due to
>the unavoidable "that many people can't POSSIBLY be all wrong".
You are absolutely right about the self-fulfilling prophecy effect in this
case. However, please realize that there are some people faced with a lack
of knowledge about systems that requires 2 years to bring one up to speed
(if not just to keep pace). And there is an immediate problem at hand...
>The reality is that I don't see any convincing signs of BITNET's imminent
>demise. Even if this were to happen, I don't see how this would suddenly
>prevent LISTSERV from exchanging mail with Internet users, a capability
>it has had for many years. This is just like saying you should scrap your
>CD player after copying all your CD's to regular audio tapes because
>there is a rumour Sony will come up with a minidisc that will make the CD
>obsolete in a year. This is just speculation, and even if it were to
>happen your CD player would still work and so would the hundreds of CD's
>you've already got. There would be plenty of time to decide what to do
>about your CD's, and they can always be dumped to tape later.
Eric, I would love to play the CD's forever and ever. However, I have been
notified by the electrical company that the new frequencies, through which
AC electrical current will be provided, will sometime this summer come into
effect, furthermore creating harmonic distortion in CD-player controls that
dis-allows the listeners to program the player.
I communicated my problem to the people who created and currently operate
CD players. The logical choice to me seemed to be to create some filter
for the new type of electrical current. However, they said that I should
either move my CD player to a new city and stretch the cables across the
distance, do without program-ability, fight the electrical company, or
go buy a new type of CD player. Who needs a new filter?
"But my current CD player has all these nice features that I can program
into it! The new CD players aren't as nice!" I thought. They agreed whole-
heartedly and were resigned to merely console me in my loss and suggest again
that I stretch the cables to another city. Evidently, with the current
remote-control technologies, I could just as easily program the CD player
anywhere around the world.
Now here is where the big quandary comes into effect. I am noticing that
electrical companies all around the world are adopting these new frequencies
as part of their systems. Oh yes, they offer both the new and the old
frequencies. But for how long? If it costs a lot of money to maintain the
old frequencies, might they be dropped at other cites as well? Why would
I want to sacrifice local user support of audio technology, move my CD
player to a remote site, and go through all the effort to do so if there
seems to be a movement toward these new frequencies. Would not it be
better for me to spend my time trying to integrate compatibility with these
new frequencies into my complete audio system?
I'd create a filter myself, however my current knowledge would have me
start by trying to place salt-water taffy on the AC wires. I don't know.
Why not query the CD-player manufacturers and users again and see if they
see any writing on the walls. Who cares about only one city anyway?
I hope this style is more palatable. Have fun! :-)
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| _ l _ * Matthew Simpson * BITNET: |
| \_l_/ * School of Psychology * [log in to unmask] |
| l * 145 Jean Jacques Lussier * INTERNET: |
| l * Ottawa, Ontario K1N 8P5 * [log in to unmask] |
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