Re: The nature of the beast

From: tim@leaphome.pelican.org (Tim Franklin)

Date: Wed, 24 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>Tim Franklin <tim@leaphome.pelican.org> writes:
>> If you can view 3 full pages of text at a time, I would suggest that either
>> your eyesight or you monitor are fairly atypical.  Not that this invalidates
>> what works for you, but it makes it less likely that others will share the
>> same experience.
>
>I do think I'm comfortable with smaller fonts than most users.  I'm just
>describing my own experience, so people can appreciate why I personally
>find viewing most text reports online more convenient.  (And, if it's
>only a question of technology, then we might conclude that more and more
>people will prefer reading reports online in the future.)
>
>Of course, if I still had an 80x24 monochrome CGA display, I might feel
>differently.
>

My monitor generally shows several 80x24 monochrome displays at once.  That's
my idea of progress :)

Good point though - the better display technology gets, the more attractive
PBEM (without printing out the turns gets).  A wall-mounted (or better still
an entire desktop) 3-foot touch-sensitive display (just press on one "sheet"
to bring it to the top) would be a very nice working environment.

>>>> I'm assuming that you meant "online" as in "on the computer" here;
>>>> if you meant "connected to the internet", then you're off your
>>>> rocker, I'm afraid. :-)
>>
>> You're in the US.  Paul's in the UK.  He (very likely) pays for Internet
>> access buy the minute (even if his ISP is flat-rate, his phone bill isn't).
>> You, I suspect, don't.  People accessing the Internet in the UK are, on the
>> whole, keen to get off-line again as quickly as possible - paying for
>> thinking time is an expensive option.
>
>How does the fact that *Paul* pays by the minute imply that *I* am "off
>my rocker" for using online access more heavily than he does?
>

Sorry, not very clearly worded.  I meant it as an explanation why Paul would
consider on-line thinking a less-than-sensible option, not trying to claim that
you were a sandwich short of a picnic.  My apologies if that came across as an
insult.

>Anyway, as it happens, I do pay by the minute.  New Jersey's unlimited-
>use residential ISDN rates are too expensive to be useful.  At my level
>of use, my connect time costs me about $0.01 per minute (sum of telco
>and ISP costs).  I don't find this high enough to cause me to alter my
>usage patterns.

OK, bad assumption on my part.  A lot of American net users tend to forget
(or be unaware of) Brits paying time-based phone charges.

Regards,
Tim.

References

Re: The nature of the beast
tim@leaphome.pelican.org (Tim Franklin)
Tue, 23 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Tue, 23 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Fri, 19 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
csuan@crocus.csv.warwick.ac.uk (Paul Walker)
Mon, 22 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Mon, 22 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000