There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.
If automobiles had followed the same development cycle as the computer a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100 get a million miles per gallon and explode once a year killing everyone inside.
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers and nobody thinks of complaining.
In view of all the deadly computer viruses that have been spreading lately Weekend Update would like to remind you: when you link up to another computer youre linking up to every computer that that computer has ever linked up to.
Live TV died in the late 1950s electronic bulletin boards came along in the mid-1980s meaning there was about a 25-year gap when it was difficult to put your foot in your mouth and have people all across the country know about it.
I am a hard-core believer that the clean desktop is the way to go… At the same time we told OEMs that if they were going to put a bunch of icons on the desktop then so were we.
Gates is the ultimate programming machine. He believes everything can be defined examined reduced to essentials and rearranged into a logical sequence that will achieve a particular goal.
The difference between e-mail and regular mail is that computers handle e-mail and computers never decide to come to work one day and shoot all the other computers.
Encryption…is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy regardless of who is running the government… Its hard to think of a more powerful less dangerous tool for liberty.
Im struck by the insidious computer-driven tendency to take things out of the domain of muscular activity and put them into the domain of mental activity.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. Weve created life in our own image.
It [the computer] is the first metamedium and as such it has degrees of freedom for representation and expression never before encountered and as yet barely investigated.
Computers shouldnt be unusable. You dont need to know how to work a telephone switch to make a phone call or how to use the Hoover Dam to take a shower or how to work a nuclear-power plant to turn on the lights.
The newest computer can merely compound at speed the oldest problem in the relations between human beings and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem of what to say and how to say it.
Since the invention of the microprocessor the cost of moving a byte of information around has fallen on the order of 10-million-fold. Never before in the human history has any product or service gotten 10 million times cheaper-much less in the course of a couple decades. Thats as if a 747 plane once at $150 million a piece could now be bought for about the price of a large pizza.
The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is responsible. Universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs.
The use of COBOL cripples the mind; its teaching should therefore be regarded as a criminal offense.
C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot; C++ makes it harder but when you do it blows away your whole leg.
Grove giveth and Gates taketh away.
There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.
I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.
There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.
640K ought to be enough for anybody.
I just bought a Mac to help me design the next Cray.
Computer : a million morons working at the speed of light.
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
Applying computer technology is simply finding the right wrench to pound in the correct screw.
Considering the flames and intolerance shouldnt USENET be spelled ABUSENET?
If automobiles had followed the same development cycle as the computer a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100 get a million miles per gallon and explode once a year killing everyone inside.
If Unix is the face of the future I want to go back to quill pens.
If you dont double-click me I cant do anything.
If you have any trouble sounding condescending find a Unix user to show you how its done.
Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers and nobody thinks of complaining.
In view of all the deadly computer viruses that have been spreading lately Weekend Update would like to remind you: when you link up to another computer youre linking up to every computer that that computer has ever linked up to.
Live TV died in the late 1950s electronic bulletin boards came along in the mid-1980s meaning there was about a 25-year gap when it was difficult to put your foot in your mouth and have people all across the country know about it.
Saying that Windows95 is equal to Macintosh is like finding a potato that looks like Jesus and believing youve witnessed the second coming.
The last good thing written in C++ was the Pachelbel Canon.
The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.
There are three kinds of death in this world. Theres heart death theres brain death and theres being off the network.
I am a hard-core believer that the clean desktop is the way to go… At the same time we told OEMs that if they were going to put a bunch of icons on the desktop then so were we.
Gates is the ultimate programming machine. He believes everything can be defined examined reduced to essentials and rearranged into a logical sequence that will achieve a particular goal.
Beware of computer programmers that carry screwdrivers.
The difference between e-mail and regular mail is that computers handle e-mail and computers never decide to come to work one day and shoot all the other computers.
There never was a chip it is said that Bill Gates couldnt slow down with a new batch of features.
Calculations which required a $20 million machine eight years ago can be done on a Mac cluster costing about $11000.
Encryption…is a powerful defensive weapon for free people. It offers a technical guarantee of privacy regardless of who is running the government… Its hard to think of a more powerful less dangerous tool for liberty.
Bill Gates is the pope of the personal computer industry. He decides whos going to build.
The digital revolution is far more significant than the invention of writing or even of printing.
Im struck by the insidious computer-driven tendency to take things out of the domain of muscular activity and put them into the domain of mental activity.
A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.
I find sitting at a specially equipped desk in front of some pretty ugly plastics and staring at a little window is a very unnatural event.
Microsoft is engaging in unlawful predatory practices that go well beyond the scope of fair competition.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive. Weve created life in our own image.
It [the computer] is the first metamedium and as such it has degrees of freedom for representation and expression never before encountered and as yet barely investigated.
Style used to be an interaction between the human soul and tools that were limiting. In the digital era it will have to come from the soul alone.
Computers shouldnt be unusable. You dont need to know how to work a telephone switch to make a phone call or how to use the Hoover Dam to take a shower or how to work a nuclear-power plant to turn on the lights.
Why shouldnt a PC work like a refrigerator or a toaster?
Computing is not about computers any more. It is about living.
The newest computer can merely compound at speed the oldest problem in the relations between human beings and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem of what to say and how to say it.
Before we work on artificial intelligence why dont we do something about natural stupidity?
Since the invention of the microprocessor the cost of moving a byte of information around has fallen on the order of 10-million-fold. Never before in the human history has any product or service gotten 10 million times cheaper-much less in the course of a couple decades. Thats as if a 747 plane once at $150 million a piece could now be bought for about the price of a large pizza.
The Linux philosophy is Laugh in the face of danger. Oops. Wrong One. Do it yourself. Yes thats it.
Real programmers can write assembly code in any language.
The computer programmer is a creator of universes for which he alone is responsible. Universes of virtually unlimited complexity can be created in the form of computer programs.
Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that once it is competently programmed and working smoothly it is completely honest.
The danger from computers is not that they will eventually get as smart as men but that we will meanwhile agree to meet them halfway.