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#91
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On Thu, 19 May 2005 06:29:54 -0500, David Maynard
wrote: snip rather that the developers seem to have little to no concern about the escalating storage requirements nor memory to run applications. Just because memory is far cheaper than it used to be, that doesn't mean I find it acceptible for a developer to take a view that they don't have to follow good practices. In the first place, I don't know that they "don't follow good practices" but would you feel better if programs cost more with fewer features in exchange for fitting in less memory? Because that choice is certainly available and for less money as well. I don't feel it would cost more nor have fewer features. Cost is somewhat fixed, what the market will bear someone buys the application(s) without foreknowledge of the bloat. As for features, yes I'd be willing to do without the features that seem to take up hundreds of MB of space, since an entire office suite can take up under 50MB. I'm not saying that's the 'sole' reason but it's certainly one. We could also debate whether we *want*, or agree with, some of those 'features' but that's another matter. Sure, but suppose an app has 10% additional features added over 2 versions but grows by 50%. A better argument relating to automobiles is, what do I care if i haul around 200 lbs. of bricks in my truck everywhere even though I have no need for them, since my engine has the extra power and efficiency over one made 40 years ago. While it's a shame the car dealer couldn't be bothered to take the bricks out of the trunk when it was sold to me, I can still drive around therefore all is right in the world. I disagree that it's a better example, or even consistent with your argument, because it not only necessitates a presumption there's no reason whatsoever to the 'bloat' I consider the bloat to be the unnecessary parts by definition, not merely that it's larger than a former version was... so it seems our concept of bloat varies. ...but one also has to waste effort and resources just to acquire/make and put the bricks in the car Code generally comes from somewhere. It's acquired/made and put into the application. when being 'lazy', or incompetent, the charge you seem to be making against the coders, would leave them out. Could be laziness, incompetence, lack of sleep, deadlines, or general apathy, among other reasons I can't foresee. Note that my car example made no assumptions about the merit of any particular 'improvements' (an eye of the beholder type of thing), nor does it claim monotonic improvement, just as I don't claim those things for any particular moment in time for software. However, over the long haul cars have become more complex and more powerful all to go the same speed in a 35 MPH zone. Now, I would contend they're also more comfortable, Comfortable? Naw, I feel like a sardine in anything modern, even with the car is big the dashes these days wrap around, plus the center divider... I feel as cramped in an SUV as I felt once in a long-ago friend's ~ '80 Ford Escort. And no, it's not me that's now bloated. ;-) ...have better acceleration, better handling characteristics, higher top end for freeway cruising, are safer and a better value, among other things, but then the point was one can make any irrational argument if you pick an appropriately inappropriate criteria to measure against. So we use a 35 MPH zone and ignore the rest. Sure, they are better but if you recall my plans for doughnuts in your back yard, well the front-wheel drive kinda kills that idea. It's a popular politician's trick (as is overstating a case to the point of absurdity). You're pretty daring bringing politics into a discussion. What will the trolls think? That may be a good point, or may not. Suppose the video editing app had become more and more bloated onto the point of being less efficient than it should be. Suppose it's 10% slower as a result. 10% could be considered the price different between two different models of CPU, are you happy to pay more for the faster CPU so the developer can profit more by not making the effort to code better? You're going to pay for it whether code gets better or worse Not necessarily true, I actively seek smaller apps that will fit my needs... and still use Office 97 more than the newer versions even though I've a license for O2K/XP. Seems that along with the bloat, Excell leaves crap behind in spreadsheets that can only be removed with '97 verison or manually editing them which I do hate to do. Probably a patch somewhere for that, don't care enough to look since '97 does the job. and the coding, on average, is going to be whatever 'the state of the art' is. If it isn't then that company looses market share and/or goes out of business, sooner or later, and the programmer is out of a job. You might be making a leap there about state-of-the-art coding. Might it be just the opposite, that they're not at all using state of the art coding and this is why we have massive bloat? Consider how many 1MB-15MB apps are out there, then what more some of the massive Adobe, Macromedia, and Microsoft apps do. Even when you choose minimal installs it insists on dozens of MB. I suppose it's a matter of choice, I choose to avoid them even with ample memory and HDD space... but then that may be part of why I always have plenty of both without having to go to extra measures to get there. I'm a big fan of only upgrading for a need, not just to have the latest apps. Could partialy be because I don't have to fool with warez I suppose, over the years have accumulated plenty of stuff. Passing the buck is ok as long as it doesn't stop here. But you're inventing a new argument. His was not a '10%' musing of the margins. It's absolute: "all... has been absorbed." Praise be to Landru. True. |
#92
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kony wrote:
David Maynard wrote: snip rather that the developers seem to have little to no concern about the escalating storage requirements nor memory to run applications. Just because memory is far cheaper than it used to be, that doesn't mean I find it acceptible for a developer to take a view that they don't have to follow good practices. In the first place, I don't know that they "don't follow good practices" but would you feel better if programs cost more with fewer features in exchange for fitting in less memory? Because that choice is certainly available and for less money as well. I don't feel it would cost more nor have fewer features. Cost is somewhat fixed, what the market will bear someone buys the application(s) without foreknowledge of the bloat. As for features, yes I'd be willing to do without the features that seem to take up hundreds of MB of space, since an entire office suite can take up under 50MB. I, for one, usually prefer simpler programs which are properly controllable. The general Unix philosophy of connecting simple things with scripts and pipes is far more flexible, understandable, and controllable. Not to mention more accurate. -- "If you want to post a followup via groups.google.com, don't use the broken "Reply" link at the bottom of the article. Click on "show options" at the top of the article, then click on the "Reply" at the bottom of the article headers." - Keith Thompson |
#93
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I don't feel it would cost more nor have fewer features.
Cost is somewhat fixed, what the market will bear someone buys the application(s) without foreknowledge of the bloat. What you feel may not be true (assuming you are thinking of large programs and operating systems.) There is a very good economic reason programs and operating systems are get larger. In 1966 computer time (for a mid-top-range computer) cost $200 US per hour. In 1966, programmer time (for a mid-top-range computer) cost $4 US per hour. Programs were very small, and a lot of people time was spent specifically to make those programs small. Speed was sacrificed for small size. The size and shape (features) of software was constrained by programming cost vs. computer facility time, memory storage size, mass storage size, processing speed, and mass storage speed. Every single one of these factors has changed dramatically. Completely new capabilities have arisen. Almost all processing used to be in 'batch mode'; real time interaction wasn't necessary. Many systems did not even have interrupts. Displays were rows of lights, or at most, a 30 cps teletype. Magnetic tape storage was very low in density, 800, 1600, or (gasp) 3200 bits per inch, 8 or 9 tracks; 1 INCH long data blocks, 1/2 INCH interblock gap. Not a whole lot of code is necessary for such low densities and I/O speed. If you REALLY want smaller code, then what do you want to give up? If you REALLY want smaller code, then why not have applications that only have the capabilities YOU use? If you REALLY want smaller code, then why not write your own applications, or hire system analysts and programmers (and testing and quality control personel)? Is it better to have capabilities you MIGHT need, or to save 1 Gbyte hard drive storage (at a cost of $1 US)? Capabilities you don't need at the present are probably in use by others, and might be needed by you in the future. Try making a list of the capabilities you are willing to forego, and then compare against similar lists by other users. Examples 1. I'd be quite willing to forego grammar checking in 'Word'. 2. I'd be quite willing to forego working on spreadsheets within 'Word'. 3. I'd really, really like to lose many capabilites in Adobe Reader. 4. I am NOT willing to forego viewing html in email and websites. But 1. Some users may actually think 'Word' grammar checking is useful. 2. Some users may feel that manipulating spreadsheets within 'Word' boosts productivity. 3. Well, Adobe Reader is free, so ... 4. Some users seem quite happy with text only. The two sample lists above bring up still another important point. Once there were thousands of computer users and thousands of very specific, well defined uses. Now, the majority of the population, middle school or above, in each industrial country is a user, each with a general list of flexible tasks. "kony" wrote in message news On Thu, 19 May 2005 06:29:54 -0500, David Maynard wrote: snip rather that the developers seem to have little to no concern about the escalating storage requirements nor memory to run applications. Just because memory is far cheaper than it used to be, that doesn't mean I find it acceptible for a developer to take a view that they don't have to follow good practices. In the first place, I don't know that they "don't follow good practices" but would you feel better if programs cost more with fewer features in exchange for fitting in less memory? Because that choice is certainly available and for less money as well. As for features, yes I'd be willing to do without the features that seem to take up hundreds of MB of space, since an entire office suite can take up under 50MB. I'm not saying that's the 'sole' reason but it's certainly one. We could also debate whether we *want*, or agree with, some of those 'features' but that's another matter. Sure, but suppose an app has 10% additional features added over 2 versions but grows by 50%. A better argument relating to automobiles is, what do I care if i haul around 200 lbs. of bricks in my truck everywhere even though I have no need for them, since my engine has the extra power and efficiency over one made 40 years ago. While it's a shame the car dealer couldn't be bothered to take the bricks out of the trunk when it was sold to me, I can still drive around therefore all is right in the world. I disagree that it's a better example, or even consistent with your argument, because it not only necessitates a presumption there's no reason whatsoever to the 'bloat' I consider the bloat to be the unnecessary parts by definition, not merely that it's larger than a former version was... so it seems our concept of bloat varies. ...but one also has to waste effort and resources just to acquire/make and put the bricks in the car Code generally comes from somewhere. It's acquired/made and put into the application. when being 'lazy', or incompetent, the charge you seem to be making against the coders, would leave them out. Could be laziness, incompetence, lack of sleep, deadlines, or general apathy, among other reasons I can't foresee. Note that my car example made no assumptions about the merit of any particular 'improvements' (an eye of the beholder type of thing), nor does it claim monotonic improvement, just as I don't claim those things for any particular moment in time for software. However, over the long haul cars have become more complex and more powerful all to go the same speed in a 35 MPH zone. Now, I would contend they're also more comfortable, Comfortable? Naw, I feel like a sardine in anything modern, even with the car is big the dashes these days wrap around, plus the center divider... I feel as cramped in an SUV as I felt once in a long-ago friend's ~ '80 Ford Escort. And no, it's not me that's now bloated. ;-) ...have better acceleration, better handling characteristics, higher top end for freeway cruising, are safer and a better value, among other things, but then the point was one can make any irrational argument if you pick an appropriately inappropriate criteria to measure against. So we use a 35 MPH zone and ignore the rest. Sure, they are better but if you recall my plans for doughnuts in your back yard, well the front-wheel drive kinda kills that idea. It's a popular politician's trick (as is overstating a case to the point of absurdity). You're pretty daring bringing politics into a discussion. What will the trolls think? That may be a good point, or may not. Suppose the video editing app had become more and more bloated onto the point of being less efficient than it should be. Suppose it's 10% slower as a result. 10% could be considered the price different between two different models of CPU, are you happy to pay more for the faster CPU so the developer can profit more by not making the effort to code better? You're going to pay for it whether code gets better or worse Not necessarily true, I actively seek smaller apps that will fit my needs... and still use Office 97 more than the newer versions even though I've a license for O2K/XP. Seems that along with the bloat, Excell leaves crap behind in spreadsheets that can only be removed with '97 verison or manually editing them which I do hate to do. Probably a patch somewhere for that, don't care enough to look since '97 does the job. and the coding, on average, is going to be whatever 'the state of the art' is. If it isn't then that company looses market share and/or goes out of business, sooner or later, and the programmer is out of a job. You might be making a leap there about state-of-the-art coding. Might it be just the opposite, that they're not at all using state of the art coding and this is why we have massive bloat? Consider how many 1MB-15MB apps are out there, then what more some of the massive Adobe, Macromedia, and Microsoft apps do. Even when you choose minimal installs it insists on dozens of MB. I suppose it's a matter of choice, I choose to avoid them even with ample memory and HDD space... but then that may be part of why I always have plenty of both without having to go to extra measures to get there. I'm a big fan of only upgrading for a need, not just to have the latest apps. Could partialy be because I don't have to fool with warez I suppose, over the years have accumulated plenty of stuff. Passing the buck is ok as long as it doesn't stop here. But you're inventing a new argument. His was not a '10%' musing of the margins. It's absolute: "all... has been absorbed." Praise be to Landru. True. |
#94
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'Software expands to fill available space' paraphrases a famous statement.
It just wouldn't have the same snap if Parkinson had sacrificed expressing the higher truth for logical completeness B^) "The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002." "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." A proverb coined by the twentieth-century British scholar C. Northcote Parkinson, known as Parkinson's Law. It points out that people usually take all the time allotted (and frequently more) to accomplish any task. 1 I think it is no possible to state "Threads expand to fill available interest." and "Crossposting expands to more than fill available interest." "David Maynard" wrote in message ... Phil Weldon wrote: Software expands to fill availble space. It certainly can't expand into unavailable space "Bob" wrote in message ... On Wed, 18 May 2005 14:46:43 -0500, David Maynard wrote: 4 GB of RAM is obscene. But bloat rules. It may be existential. |
#95
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Don't forget the other extreme the head-per-track magnetic drum, the
multi-disk, single head RAMDAC from IBM circa 1964 "David Maynard" wrote in message ... .. .. .. Oh yeah, drums. The ones with heads all over the place were impressive, and expensive as all get out. The strangest 'disk drive' I ran across was a real old one, still in service, that was a huge 30 inch, or so, diameter aluminum disc mounted vertically. Capacity was something like 250K. .. .. .. |
#96
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Installed Base.
"Ed Coolidge" wrote in message ink.net... David Maynard wrote: That it's almost universally popular is defacto proof it's not just "a really stupid way to do things." No, it just proves that someone a long time ago thought it was a good idea and no one has thought otherwise. BTW, there are other ways to do it that doesn't require using memory addresses, it's just more transparent to the current processor architecture. |
#97
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David Maynard writes:
And all the advancements in automobiles over the past 100 years have been 'wasted' because one still can't go faster than 35 MPH in a 35 MPH speed zone. Not all, but certainly those related to higher maximum speeds. And since you think "all the additional hardware horsepower has been absorbed by bloat" then why don't you run DOS on a 386 and do your video editing with it? Nobody sells 386 machines any more, and no current software runs on them. I prefer a GUI for desktops, anyway. The GUI absorbs a huge amount of machine capacity, though. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
#98
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CBFalconer writes:
I, for one, usually prefer simpler programs which are properly controllable. The general Unix philosophy of connecting simple things with scripts and pipes is far more flexible, understandable, and controllable. Not to mention more accurate. And more dangerous from a security standpoint, since such features have all sorts of side effects. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
#99
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Bob writes:
I think the problem, if there really is one, is existential. That is, it is a part of the nature of computers to expand, both in terms of h/w and s/w. Computers are not living creatures, so they have no nature. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
#100
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Al Dykes writes:
But there is no way you could do the image manipulation done by something like modern Photoshop on a 10 y/o PC. I can use Photoshop 5.x on an 8-year-old PC, however. Photoshop is a special case, though. About 95% of current applications could be (and were) carried out on PCs 15 years ago. The same goes for modern games. Games are also a niche market. OCR is has made huge improvements due to more CPU cycles and memory. See above. In XP you can turn off most of the eye candy and turn off lots of unnecessary processes to bring interactive performance back to acceptable. As long as you are using a GUI, most of the system's horsepower is being used to drive it. The people that complain about sluggish interactive response, IMO, frequently have machines full of spyware and the little "helper applications" that come with consumer devices like printers and digicams. G*d know, Dell PCs come with lots of this crap preinstalled. Disk drives are a major source of delay on any system. I'm told that the huge address spaces in 64 bit systems will bring large improvements of AI-ish appls like voice recognition. They will bring software that won't run in less than 100 GB of RAM and will require 20 blue-light DVDs to install. -- Transpose hotmail and mxsmanic in my e-mail address to reach me directly. |
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