Vintage Mac Living

30 Days of Old School Computing

Getting Real Work Done

- 2007.02.19

Ted Hodges found this "lost installment" of 30 Days of Old School Computing on one of his computers last week. This article was written around October 19, 2006.

What was the personal computer invented for?

Personal computers were created to be tools, not toys.

Personal computers were invented to make it easier for you to get your work done.

When you bought a computer 20-25 years ago, you probably bought it to get your work done. For instance, you might have used a computer to write an article, do a spreadsheet, draw a picture, create a presentation, or post something on the local BBS.

You didn't buy one to import your entire collection of music (consisting of 800 CDs). You didn't import all of your videotapes onto the hard drive (if you even had a hard drive in those days) so you could copy them for your friends and put them on the Internet. You didn't have photo collection consisting of 10,000,000 digital pictures on your hard drive.

You didn't have iTunes so you could buy movies and music to fill up your hard drive. You didn't buy an "all-in-one" cell phone that stored everything that you have on your computer so you would never be without all of your stuff - so you could talk to someone on the phone while texting your friends when you're checking your MySpace account so you can put a new song on your home page - and at the same time you're watching a movie and driving your car.

Would you have if you could have?

In any case, you are buying music and movies online now, at 99¢ to $12.99 a pop.

Today many computers are nothing more than undersized entertainment centers that distract us from reality.

During my last 12 days of using vintage computers, I realized something: Somewhere along the way, personal computers stopped doing what they designed to do, which was to help you get your work done.

Since I began using my vintage machines exclusively, I've found it much easier to get my work done simply because there is no distraction from my work.

I don't have the iTunes visualizer going while iChat's icon is bouncing on the dock, nor are there are popups arriving on the screen trying to sell me on the latest crap.

Do we really need all of the eye candy? Do we really need multimedia built into every single aspect of our lives?

Maybe you do, but I know that I don't.

Do you own a vintage machine that you can afford not to use? Could you really tell the difference if I used a 3 GHz Mac Pro to write this or a Macintosh 128K?

Is bigger, faster, and more really what we need?

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Recent Vintage Mac Living articles

What a waste! Some schools would rather store old computers than put them to use, 2007.09.12. Denver Public Schools is one example of a school district so ready to buy new computers that it has tens of thousands of old, usable computers sitting in storage.
My incredible $110 Lombard and Power Mac G4 deal, 2007.07.11. Sometimes pawn shops can be a great source for older Macs, such as turning up a Lombard PowerBook and a very upgraded Power Mac G4 Digital Audio for just $110!
Too stressed to even think about computers, 2007.05.16. "I've been so preoccupied that I haven't been able to think about computers, much less write about them."
More in the Vintage Mac Living index.

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