The Cold-Blooded Truth about PlatformsThe Cold-Blooded Truth about Platforms
by Yves Barbero
A lawyer who writes books for Nolo Press was told in no uncertain terms that they wanted his output on 3.5" high density diskettes, and would no longer accept 360 kilobyte 5.25" floppies. He was referred to me.
"You have an 8088?" I asked.
"Yea! And every time I go to a store, they want to sell me a Pentium this, or a Windows 95 that. I don't want that s**t!. I just want to write my books. But no one wants to install the high density diskette on my machine. One guy says it can't be done."
"It takes a special card and external drive to do it. Not really cost effective..." I pointed out. My solution was to sell him a 286 that had been gathering dust on my shop floor. I slapped on the required diskette drive, moved his data from his old machine with a cable, and hit him for just under $200 (labor and equipment included), and every one was happy. I sold a working machine I owned outright, and he got back to work without needing to re-invent the wheel. I don't expect to hear from him until something dies, or his publisher makes further demands on him.
Granted that clients like him don't make me piles of money, he is, nevertheless, the ideal computer user. He waits until he has no choice, and then does it.
Similarly, my very first client, a labor organization, has finally replaced the computer I sold him eleven years ago with a modern Pentium machine. Over the years, there had been three motherboard changes, one memory upgrade and three hard disk changes (one because the first hard disk failed during the warranty period). It started as an 8088, with a thirty megabyte hard disk and was taken off-line as a 386SX25 with two megabytes of RAM and an 80 megabyte hard disk (a good old Seagate full height, and still in good shape).
The CMOS did not always remember what hard disk it had, especially after a weekend. The secretary would routinely reset it from information written on a label stuck on the box. The monitor got fuzzy (I gave them a free replacement six months ago from the pile of monochrome monitors I have on my floor since I would have been too embarrassed to charge them). The keyboard died a month ago. The secretary complained that the new one I sold them didn't have the keys in the right place. I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. "That's the way they make them, now." I politely suggested that this machine had finally reached the end of its useful life. The head of the organization said he had a car that was older than the computer. "So do I," was all I could reply.
What turned the trick was the need for the organization to access the Internet. Curiously, the price of the hardware was about the same $1200 that I had charged them for the original 8088. But this one has Super VGA, a hard disk over 50 times larger, and a processor that's several hundred times faster. It also has a much better Solitaire game (several, in fact).
I made an interesting decision at this point. I stuck with DOS, although I did upgrade it to version 6.22 from version 5.0. And I decided to use Windows 3.11 (which can be bought for a song at the Cow Palace). The advantage to doing this was that I could keep the same interface she had been using for over ten years, a DOS/ASCII menu system, just adding WIN to the choices. Unlike most people, she'd been using Professional Write and an old flat database called Reflex bought many years ago. Even with the purchase of the Corel WordPerfect Suite 6.1 (an upgrade to DOS WordPerfect that had been sitting on the hard disk unused for many years) for use when she eventually goes to Windows, I kept their costs for software to under $200. It's possible that it'll be awhile before the switch is made to Windows programs except for the immediate need to use the Internet. When she does, there is a filter I specifically installed that'll bring in her Professional Write stuff seamlessly into WP 6.1. Planning is the heart of my business.
I knew what the organization needed, having dealt with them over many years, and their approximate resources (a labor organization rarely has the deep pockets conservative pundits claim -- and why waste money?), and what they have to do. And there is the human factor. The secretary is close to retirement. Is there really a need to radicalize her use of computers at this point? The best question I asked myself was, "Is there anything they need to do in Windows 95 that can't be done on another platform?" The answer was "No!". Even Windows 3.11's limitation on baud speed (19,200) can be overcome with a third-party freebie called Cybercom. I get a full 33,600 baud in Windows 3.1X.
If things change, and they do need or want to use Windows 95 in the future, the hardware I sold them will allow the move in an hour or less.
I have another client, who in the course of a year and a half, went from a Macintosh with an external 20 megabyte hard drive she'd been using for many years, to a 486DX66, a 486DX100, and now a nice fast Pentium. She also went to Windows 3.11 and Windows 95 (she, not being sure that the last move was necessary). All of these moves could be justified (sort of) if for no other reason than this woman actually buckles down and learns her software thoroughly. She's retired and doesn't need to be as thorough as she is except for self-satisfaction. If more of my clients were like her, I'd starve.
About a month before Windows 95 first came out, I sent a newsletter to all my clients advising them to wait at least six months and not jump in. Most of them waited. Now I don't object to it on software or learning grounds (although Windows 95 still has problems). It has been throughly socialized into the computer community. But I don't necessarily promote it. I never really saw it as an improvement for most people. Even for me, it was a year before I put it on my main office machine. Prior to that, I had it on a loose hard disk that I'd plug into my test motherboard when I needed to look at something.
My point is that marketing hype is just that. The old chestnuts, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" and KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) apply in spades. Microsoft is the 400 pound gorilla. I have little choice but to be dragged kicking and screaming into Windows 95 (although I have a second computer with DOS/Windows 3.11) because slowly but surely, my clients are going there. One guy, who should have known better, went to Windows 95 against my advise. He had a 486DX50 and I warned him that the equipment wasn't up to par. The claim that Windows 95 would work on a 386DX machine is like claiming that you can move a freight car with a donkey. You can, but ever so slowly. Two months later, he has new motherboard (Pentium) and hard disk. Now it works right. But he likes the old interface of Windows 3.11 so I put the Program Manager that comes with Windows 95 in his startup. Go figure!
The beauty of computers is that they're infinitely configurable so why would anyone want to use the same platform. Americans are conformists claiming to be individualists. Bill Gates recognized this years ago and is now the richest man in America. Computers, despite the shorter life span, are very much like cars. People identify with them and it seems to make some spiritual difference that your car is blue and your neighbor's is red. But your patriotism gets questioned if you don't own a car. Similarly, your competence as a user is questioned if you don't join the Windows 95 bandwagon (unless you're a beatnik who uses UNIX).
The cold truth about platforms is that whatever works for you or your organization is the right solution.
© Copyright 1998 by Yves Barbero
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