Category Archives: Opinion

Remember the 60s? I do. We had a rotary phone and it made phone calls. Our number was Whitehall 6-4990. And it was an amazing device that allowed us to talk to our friends and family by simply spinning the dial for each number and waiting for someone to pick up the phone on the other end. Back then, Ma Bell had a monopoly and most people probably thought that was fine. Phone service was reliable. The technology seemed like a blessing. The service was affordable although long-distance calls were very, very expensive.

It began so well. Microsoft wrote DOS. They started small and they created an operating system for the IBM PC that opened up a new world for the common, everyday programmer. DOS was sometimes a bit tricky. I recall issues with getting printers and modems to work. There was no graphic user interfaces. There was no multitasking. You ran a program. You finished and you ran a different program. Looking back, it was quite primitive. But, remarkably, the industry thrived throughout the 80s.

Why?

During the early days of the PCs in the 1980s, software manufacturers battled with consumers over copy protection.  Floppy drives and the 5.25" floppy made it possible to very easily create illegal copies of software. This resulted in a boom in training books that were targeted to buyers of pirated software. The leading word processing software, the application that invented the term "WYSIWYG" was called Wordstar. Wordstar rapidly grew into the leading and best-selling word processor of the early 1980s. And as it grew in popularity, many users were also copying the software.

Wordstar decided to copy-protected their product just as WordPerfect was gaining in popularity. WordPerfect was shipping without copy protection and ultimately became the leading word In the Lotus 1-2-3 followed suit and also abandoned copy protection. In the highly competitive software world of the 1980s, the most successful companies were learning that copy protection was bad for business. Wordstar disappeared many years ago.

So, I bought a new Acer Aspire One Netbook for my wife and for home use. It is a terrific little machine. It comes with Windows 7, 1gb RAM, a 160gb hard drive, 3 USB ports, external video jack, 10" LCD screen, 100mb ethernet, WiFi, cam and a microphone for only $325. And it weighs just over 2 pounds.

But when I went to install my printer to the machine I ran into a problem. I have a HP LaserJet 1320TN at home. It has been a terrific printer. It has 2 trays and it prints on both sides of a page. It has never had a single problem. I think the printer is about 7 or 8 years old. So, I get out the CD that came with the printer and I copy it onto a thumb drive because the netbook does not have a CD drive. Then I try to install it but it just doesn't work. The printer software is too old.

I met with a potential client. They have a very specialized business that involves analyzing data on hard drives. The data can take many forms and so they have a multitude of software tools that assist in compiling information. And like most businesses, they have a Windows-based network. But the primary applications they are using are not Microsoft. They are 3rd party, industry-specific applications that are mission-critical. If their programs are not running properly, they are not able to work and not able to run the business.