[rescue] A bit of Fun

[Sheldon T. Hall]

> 1. Worst Machine Architecture

Datapoint.  8-bit "minicomputer" that only read 256 bytes of your DATABUS
code into memory at a time.  If you wrote a loop (hard to do, actually,
since they didn't have arrays in DATABUS) that crossed one of those 256-byte
boundaries, it swapped on every iteration through the loop.

> 2. Worst Processor

In modern times, its segmented architecture probably makes the x86 family
the frontrunner here.  However, I'll admit I don't know squat about
processor design, so any number of things that are less-well-known or older
might actually be worse.

> 3. Worst Operating system

All of 'em, IMHO.  There's not a one of them that doesn't have some glaring
deficiency.  Some have more than others, but those that have fewer faults
seem to compensate by having bigger ones.

It would be hard to be worse than DATABUS, or whatever the underlying OS
Datapoint had, though; you had to learn a new text editor for each terminal
type you used.

> 4. Worst Case Design

Any that require special tools to open 'em up, like the old Macs.
Runners-up would be those with concealed, but fragile, latches designed so
that anyone could pry the damned thing open, but only the cognoscenti could
open 'em without breaking them, like the Sun 411.

> 5. Etc if you can think of anything else.

How much time do you have?  Everything having to do with computers sucks in
one way or another.

-Shel