November 1, 2010 at 8:30 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Life Without a Net
November 1, 2010 at 8:53 pm
What I'm even more concerned about is lost learning due to the fact that certain programs and formats are no longer available. Imagine, for instance, if someday in the future that MS no longer supports the .DOC format. Only those lucky enough to have a legacy copy of Word will be able to recover the information. Oh, but wait... will the legacy copy actually work on that future operating system? Think about it... even most printer aren't actually capable of printing a simple text file using the DOS copy command anymore. Instead, "DOS" prints through Windows and without the necessary drivers, you can't even print a text file without some form of Windows interaction anymore.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
November 1, 2010 at 9:54 pm
I'm still trying to get over the cognitive dissonance generated by having to post to this forum to have the discussion.
November 2, 2010 at 1:00 am
Due to Internet we learn lot, share our knowledge, make SSC type of solid group, we can help others in the areas that we know or want to know. But at same time, we are now habitual. Whenever I am at home and not able to check SSC - new post, question of day then I am thinking that something is missing today 🙂
Thanks
November 2, 2010 at 1:20 am
Isn't that the whole point of technology - that it makes life easier to the point of becoming, literally, an extension of the individual? This in turn allows the individual to perform their tasks - or live their lives - better or more conveniently.
True, eras gone by were simpler - perhaps - and certainly involved more personal effort. But then again, so did learning Latin...the arrow of time is relentlessly forward-looking, and we have little choice but to adapt to that. In 20 years' time, perhaps I will just think this response, and it will type itself...bring it on!
November 2, 2010 at 4:53 am
Brilliant though provoking editorial Rodney, thanks for sharing.
It provoked so much comment inspiration on my part that I conceded to writing a post of my own.....
November 2, 2010 at 5:08 am
Agh: "Morg, quick throw spear".
Morg: "Hit it. Good! Deer down."
[Later around the dinner fire]
Morg: "Agh, I don't know. First knife, then spear. I miss the days when I use to hunt with my bare hands."
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I also lament the days when I knew stuff off the top of my head. I remember resisting the GUI tools, I wanted to know what was under the hood. It is great to be able to work without the internet, but as with many things, I try not to make it wrong that we can. I think the truth is that we should always do the best we can with the best we have. My parents lived through the 1930s. They, and many of their contemporaries, then spent a life worrying about what happened by living as if it might happen again. I think we all would have "advanced" much more if they had been able to live in what is happening now instead of what might happen again. Or, to bring this philosophical meandering back to the topic, Just Do, Don't Sweat.
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Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.
November 2, 2010 at 6:22 am
I think you hit the nail on the head when you talked about the Internet being an extension. You trust it to act as shared memory, in the same way that you trust your wife to remember things like when the dog's vet appointment is. It's a relationship and if you lose it, you get anxious. I was getting anxious just reading your account of having no access. Perhaps stuff like this is what disaster stories of the future will be like?
November 2, 2010 at 6:31 am
Jeff Moden (11/1/2010)
What I'm even more concerned about is lost learning due to the fact that certain programs and formats are no longer available.
For long term storage anything in bits and bytes is propably not the best option. A general recommendation within the genealogical community for example is printing on high quality paper and distribution of as much copies as possible over several libraries.
brgds
Philipp Post
November 2, 2010 at 7:06 am
“SSIS, SSRS, cluster administration, performance tuning, and strong ability to look up any answer I do not know, or have not retained since the last lookup.”
...so true
November 2, 2010 at 7:28 am
Face it, in the days before the internet systems were far less complex, it was *possible* to know just about everything there was to know about a system.
Today? Not so much.
Take SQL server. Thousands of developers over tens of years. No documentation worth having. (What ever happened to the art of clarity in documentation?) Of *course* you're going to need the net, with all its deeming masses squirreling away tidbits of knowledge gleaned through serendipity. It isn't a matter of *our* laziness, it's the vendors cutting corners and trying to beat everyone else to market with the latest whiz-bang.
Simplicity is *hard*. Elegance is *extremely* hard. So the vendors slather the new goodness on top of the old, till you have the monstrosities we have today.
*Undocumented* monstrosities, I might add...because clarity is also hard and takes time.
Given that, I'll take the net. I'd rather have a system that was well thought out and does most of the grunt work for me, but failing that (and given vendor realities) I'll take what I can get.
November 2, 2010 at 7:56 am
I have to admit, I found today's editorial kind of funny...
Steve, please don't forget us "old men" who spent (in my case) over 20 years in this business WITHOUT any internet. We survived and many of us flourished. In fact, long before any internet existed one of our favorite acronyms was going on various BBS's...
So, when you want to know a veteran techie, just ask "Whats a BBS?" I wonder how many SQL Central devotees can answer that question!
November 2, 2010 at 7:57 am
I love it Rodney. Very true. I personally couldn't imagine life without it. And that's not because I'm so young that I grew up with it, because if you know me, that is far from true. I couldn't imagine that email getting sent to my iphone alerting me that my wife just spent a ton of money and my bank account has less than $500. 🙂 I couldn't imagine not being able to query the rest of the virtual world for all of its wisdom (and craziness sometimes too). Who can remember it all right? I'd like to see Einstein in todays' world and see how much he could retain. For me, it is about knowing what and where to find the answer. Sort of like an index in my brain with different sites and queries. I quickly seek the index in my brain housing group. Tiny little electrical impulses are then sent throughout my body, bridging the synaptic gaps and firing my fat fingers to hit the keys on my keyboard in the sequence in which are stored in my permanent memory based on what the index tells me to look up.
At any rate...I loved your editorial and look forward to the next one. Tell your wife that I said hello and I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Take care,
Brian
Brian K. McDonald, MCDBA, MCSD
Business Intelligence Consultant
Jacksonville, Florida
November 2, 2010 at 8:00 am
"Whats a BBS?" = Bulletin Board System. I remember that from wayyyyyyy back in the days... does that actually mean that we are "old timers"? :hehe:
Brian K. McDonald, MCDBA, MCSD
Business Intelligence Consultant
Jacksonville, Florida
November 2, 2010 at 8:01 am
I was interested in reading this, so I went to Borders (since I have a 40% off coupon right now) to pick up. Ironically, it's only available as a digital download.
The distance between genius and insanity is measured only by success.
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