[geeks] Re: 48v

[Ken Hansen]

I'll grant your opinions and views, but suffice it to say, early on (1978-era) he was out there, buying Cromemco systems to do real work when most writers were still saving up to buy a Selectric typewriter.

He may not be the best technical person, but the breadth of his experience, and his level of interest is quite high. He writes "user columns" not technical (well "User" in mid-1980 Byte magazine terms), and rubs up against lots of new toys. He also, in my opinion, never pulled any punches - he introduced phrases like "good enough", "suits my needs," and the like to technical reviews. I never came across a "review" of any item in his writing that was just a puff piece - he put real items to use and reported on his success.

I didn't mean to portray him as anything other than a "power user" - (uber may be too strong, in retrospect)...

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Bradford [mailto:mrbill at mrbill.net]
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 2:35 PM
To: geeks at sunhelp.org
Subject: Re: [geeks] Re: 48v


On Mon, Apr 23, 2001 at 01:18:52PM -0400, Ken Hansen wrote:
> Jerry Pournelle is a *major* tech-geek. 

I would MAYBE call him a "power user", but not a "tech-geek".  I've
"seen" him have to call for help about stuff more than once in his
old articles.

> I admire his work 

His scifi is good, his BYTE and other "technical" writings, not so
great.  I saw a "generic Pournelle aritcle" once and it was so
formulatic that it made me laugh my ass off.

> and marvel at his collection of "toys." 

All gotten by sucking up to various companies promising them a plug
in his next column.

Bill

-- 
Bill Bradford
mrbill at mrbill.net
Austin, TX
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