Computer cut-out?

[SoundSnob]

watched a show on u.s aircraft carriers today.hows this ,they use cardboard cut-outs of the planes on a scaled down model of the landing deck and use differnet coloured nuts,washers,wing nuts to represent weapons,fuel and so on...
they tried to computerize the system 10 yrs ago but found they couldnt input the data quick enough.
now that says somthing about the computer.this is a very complex system of weapons,planes,lifts,people,fuel all shuffling around a small space in the middle of no where, where a mistake could mean death.

i think the analouge realm is just that a differnent realm to digital.digital might capture parts of this realm but will never become it.

-fo fo tho-

[rick]

this looks like the kind of thing i would dwell on
time to go fishing , full tide at sundown today

[chris p]

Great story SoundSnob

I've worked as a computer programmer and systems analyst for over 20 years in various employed, seconded, hired, unpaid and for the sheer love of it jobs, and its a valuable lesson to know. Not everything needs to be computerised, and you don't computerise something just because you can.

[Peter Knight]

When he was growing up after the war, my old man had to sandpaper the skin off potatoes rather than use a potato peeler. Things were tough back then.

[wez]

sandpaper? luxury.

when i were a lad....

[JustinS]

It's something I think about a bit as well - just how un-ergonomic computers tend to be. Sure we can do a lot of neat things with them... but they're generally unintuitive and akward to use. That's going to be the next great revolution in computers, not making them faster of prettier but actually making really functional and useable interfaces to hardware and software.

Justin.

[Kurt]

Not sure about that, I like computers, I find them easy to work with in general. Maybe it's the amount of time people sit around wanting them to work like analogue gear that's the problem.

For example, the shops are all loaded with control surfaces in all shapes and sizes, what's wrong with a mouse and hotkeys?

Having said that, I hate "pretty" interfaces. I run XP and first thing I do after installation is turn off the "Fisher-Price" theme, plain old windows 95/98 look for me.

It's something I think about a bit as well - just how un-ergonomic computers tend to be. Sure we can do a lot of neat things with them... but they're generally unintuitive and akward to use. That's going to be the next great revolution in computers, not making them faster of prettier but actually making really functional and useable interfaces to hardware and software.

Justin.

[mfdu]

i am in the between world of analogue console and outboard with hdd.
there is nothing like doing a session to tape and then dumping back to 'tools afterwards.
but i have found for me the most ergonomic computer control is a mini keyboard and a huge-ass trackball.
i use a kensington expert mouse pro. gives me extra assignable buttons so i have :
scroll up/down
enter
ctrl x cut
ctrl c copy
ctrl v paste
ctrl= flip screen
ctrl[ zoom out
ctrl] zoom in

i find with those key combis on my trackball, i only need the keyboard for track naming. nice to run a whole session without the keyboard!

chris.

[JustinS]

I love hotkeys just as much as the next red-blooded male (or female for that matter) - but hotkeys are definitely something I would put in the unintuitive camp - why would I know that Apple E cuts a block of audio at the marker in Tools If I didn't spend a bunch of time reading the manual or someone showing me? You can definitely run a DAW or any other PC program quickly when highly trained / practised, but that's the thing highly trained / practised, and those skills don't transfer necessarily between programs - Tools to Logic for instance...

An example outside of the music world, Microsoft in their ever advancing evil empire surveyed a bunch of MS Office users about what features they would like added to the yet to be released latest version of Office. Over 50% of the features requested were allready implemented in Office! So the features are there but they're obviously hard to find... I know sometimes there are even features in a particular program that you know are there that are hard to find....

I just think there have to be better ways to interface with computer hardware & software.

Justin.

[Mark Bassett]

As the constant pain from RSI spreads from the tendons on the top of my hand, to my wrist, up my arm, shoulder and now into the back of my neck/head I urge anyone who uses a computer for serious amounts of time, or any amount of time really, to take regular breaks, get a decent, big mouse or trackball, a good chair and take a serious look at the ergonomics of your setup.