Leicas, Mainframes, and Technological Determinism

[amateriat]

Well, Leicas aren't mentioned in this article, but it did have me thinking more keenly again about the subject of technology, specifically how certain technologies manage to survive in spite of "better" technologies attaining market dominance. Speaking for myself, I've seen rapid technological change in various areas: in audio, from LPs to cassettes to CDs to my first iPod a little over a year ago (yeah...I was a bit slow on that one); my first electric typewriter (a cool little Olivetti) morphing into an IBM Selectric, then replaced with a monstrous C/PM box with twin 5.25" floppy drives and an eye-killing green-on-black CRT, then a DOS box, and a long succession of Macs up to today; and, ever since the (original) breakup of AT&T, which, among other things, allowed people to buy the phone of their choice, a whole slew of funky, feature/gadget-laden phones, first corded, then cordless, some cool, some crappy. (And I haven't even touched upon pens and wrist watches, save to say that after having dallied with "whatever was current up until fifteen years ago", my regular watch has an analog dial and manual-wind movement, and I have a few fountain pens I use quite a lot.)

Just as you can still buy new turntables–from the cheap lightweight numbers to the my-Hyundai-cost-about-that-much high-end models–and newly-pressed vinyl to play on them, and can still walk into a Radio Shack and buy a just-the-basics corded phone (given my experience with the last major blackout, it's a good idea to have at least one in your house...assuming, of course, you've still got a POTS landline at your place), you can actually call up IBM and buy yourself a Z10 mainframe. And, no, it's certainly not your dad's (or grand-dad's) 360.

And maybe, if you have change left, an M7 or M8. 🙂


- Barrett

 

[John Camp]

One "survivor" technology that I'm interested in is the slide projector. Even the best digital projectors throw up pretty bad photographic images; if you looked at one side-by-side with a slide image, and didn't know what was going on, you might think the slide image represented some revolutionary new technology. Anyway, I bought two lightly used near top-end Kodak carousel projectors at a camera store (where they had about twenty of them in a pile) for $25 each. They're pretty cool.

JC

 

[crawdiddy]

I like the mainframe shout out!

I am, my own self, a mainframe systems programmer, and let me tell you, we have suffered deeply in the last 20 years. First, the media decided Unix and Windows would take over the world, and mainframes would go the way of the T.Rex. Then, Business decided the Indian sub continent possessed all the technical expertise needed globally, and sent 70% of our jobs there.

Well, there are a few of us that survived (thanks a lot, CEOs-- how many of your jobs are in India?). The z10 is actually pretty exciting. AND IT RUNS LINUX LIKE A PROVERBIAL SCALDED DOG! (No offense, PETA sympathisers. Only an expression.)

Anyway, be careful when you write the obituary for a technology. Maybe check for a pulse first.

 

[amateriat]

One "survivor" technology that I'm interested in is the slide projector. Even the best digital projectors throw up pretty bad photographic images; if you looked at one side-by-side with a slide image, and didn't know what was going on, you might think the slide image represented some revolutionary new technology. Anyway, I bought two lightly used near top-end Kodak carousel projectors at a camera store (where they had about twenty of them in a pile) for $25 each. They're pretty cool.
JC

That's why I kept my Ektagraphic: on the rare occasion where people are gathered to view their work, I'll insist on bringing it along and firing it up when showing my images (assuming I shot on slide film). It still amazes me how much digital projectors suck by comparison, almost regardless of how much money you throw at them.

Anyway, be careful when you write the obituary for a technology. Maybe check for a pulse first.

Couldn't agree more. Cool to know about your mainframe prog skills. Keep 'em flying!


- Barrett