: : : I've met Irene a time or two, but I don't know if she is old
: : : enough to remember that all computers used to be
: : : called "beasts". Andre has never became a
Beastmaster (or
: : : Beastmistress), I guess. :)

: : I don't remember the Damnthings in the 'Fuzzy' stories.
Guess
: : I'm going to have to visit the library.

: They were four-legged animals that would charge a human
with a deadly ferocity. The hero of the LITTLE FUZZY novel
had to stand and fire on one directly as it charged him. I
think they were supposed to be sort of like mad moose with
sharp horns or something like that.

: : Maybe calling computers "beasts" is a regional thing?

: I don't believe so.

: : I've been in computers since they first got user terminals -
: : ah, that means punch cards for most programming and
paper
: : tapes for re-booting, and user terminals for Wang
calculators
: : (like the credit card calculators of today) and terminals for
: : the NEW on-line programming language APL. I
remember that even
: : 6 years later I was using a tele-type terminal that I could
: : type faster than it could print the letters on it's paper.

: Well, my first exposure to computers came in 1975. I was
able to tinker with them on and off for a couple of years and
then went to a technical school in 1978 for a Data
Processing program.

: I learned to keypunch on IBM 021 and 023 keypunch
machines, but occasionally had to use the lead-cased 010
keypunch to fix up my cards. I thought the Data General
8010 was really fast and neat (futuristic looking, even). And
then in 1980 I got involved with mini-computers, where you
had a terminal and typed your code directly into the machine
and things were interactive. What a concept! :)

: : I advised Andre not to use drums to disrupt the robots in
"No
: : Folded Handes", but she went with them. My suggestion
was have
: : the drums bring lightening - that could disrupt the innards
of
: : a robot, and probably any communications with a home
base.

: Haven't read that one, but then, I've never come across a
science fiction story which handled computers correctly
anyway.

: : In a more modern time, I would have just suggested that
she
: : send a virus to the robots - or better yet, just have them all
: : have Microsoft operating systems - then they'd crash often
&
: : just have to be re-booted.

: LOL!

: The lost alien virus jumping up from the planet in the form
of a raw lightning bolt to infect Picard's Enterprise still
sickens me, but I have to admit, even with the breakup, there
is a very real danger that we'll be saddled with Microsoft's
crummy operating system for at least another generation.