The Good Old Days

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

> >      Bullshit.  Geeks don't hoard knowledge (though there certainly
> > are a horde of them :-), they spread it (whether you want it or not
> > :-).  

Maybe tech writing geeks spread it, but most of the hardcore nerds I know
are very hesitant to give up their knowledge. 

Knowledge is power. If everybody could write technical documents, then
none of us would have jobs and make money. 

Geeks do hoard knowledge. Its not a bad thing, but eventually you have to
evolve and move along to new technologies or get left behind. 


> > This is why you see geeks getting annoyed about the dumbing down
> > of technology.  Not because they have anything against non-geeks using
> > technology, but because that dumbing down often ends up being a
> > defacto removal of options for the geek.  

I'll go a step further than Bruce to say - if technology didn't get dumbed
down, you wouldn't have a job. It is a natural progression for technology
to start out as a scientists discovery, become an engineering problem,
then a viable commercial product. This is the natural evolution of all
technology from gunpowder to RAMBUS. 

Our whole civilization owes its existence to this process. We discover
things, find practical ways to use them, then commercialize them and
expand our economy. If you take out the last step, you will essentially
cease the economic development of our civilization. 

 
> >      She was right.  The internet of the late eighties and early
> > nineties WAS destroyed.  I miss it every day.  The culture of clarity
> > is gone, drowning under the endless wash of spam and corporate
> > marketing.  

I wasn't destroyed, it evolved. Initially the Internet was a mechanism to
connect universities (science), then engineers began to play with it and
make up new uses for it, like e-mail and web pages. Eventually, commercial
uses became viable and now a significant chunk of our economy centers on
the Internet. This is natural evolution at work. And like it or lump it,
evolution is going to happen with or without you. Its the way of the
universe. 




__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail
http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

Sponsored by Cub Lea, specialist in low-cost outsourced development
and documentation. Overload and time-sensitive jobs at exceptional
rates. Unique free gifts for all visitors to http://www.cublea.com

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.