It has been a while, hasn't it?

Post #7,119 by mhuber 8/29/01 4:48:06 PM Reply	It has been a while, hasn't it? I remember reading his stuff before DOS was dominant... His stuff (at least in the past, I haven't read it lately) teaches that you can mess around with computers without utterly destroying them by mistake, and to try different things. Personaly, I think reading his stuff is good for newbies and pre-newbies, as long as they aren't in a situation where some admin is going to have to suffer for the learning experiences that he inspires. Not much real information, but inspiring in a "if this guy can do it, I can" way. White guys in suits know best - Pat McCurdy
Post #7,174 by static 8/30/01 1:05:32 AM Reply	I think he is determined to remain that way. It was amusing reading about his first attempt to network his computers: he didn't know you had to terminate each end of 10Base2 co-ax. But think how many others would have tried to network two computers and had that exact problem if Jerry hadn't done it and publically admitted to it? He does have that advantage and for no other reason, really, am I happy to see him continue to write about his computer mis-adventures. Wade. "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
Post #7,176 by Ashton 8/30/01 1:29:29 AM Reply	Simply: many more Jerrys in world than 'us' And that seems unlikely to change much; have to be weird to even know what (say), "seven significant figures" means (across a large scale of implications, in that 'means') As the techno- advances, the social gap widens: ergo Windoze and the marketing of such: See ? ya don't need to know shit. Don't listen to them long-haired awful GEEKS what Know Stuff.. yer OK Billy-Bob, Just Like You Are! Here! have a free demo of Open Sockets; on us. We'd Best Get Used to the Phenom.. no?
Post #7,201 by mhuber 8/30/01 10:52:18 AM Reply	Yeah, but a lot of 'us' start out Jerrys We just get over it in a decade or two. He has a target audience and a particular voice and style. If he got to be an expert, he'd lose all of that. White guys in suits know best - Pat McCurdy
Post #7,258 by Ashton 8/30/01 3:51:10 PM Reply	Think you're closest; I met him at a SF show In fact - handed him a sample of Tweek, the "contact enhancer" which cures intermittents - he tried it; it worked (first on a flaky KB contact IIRC) and named it, Product of the Year.. just after the original HP LaserJet. (Not a bad product to be "second-best" to, no?) While you can't tell much in 5 min (!) he grokked the rather subtle means by which this substance works = an oily long-chain polymer with the unusual property that it is an 'insulator' at normal atmo pressures, but under the (v. high local micro-level) pressure of a metal-metal contact: it is a conductor. None of the other so-called 'cleaners' had such properties. (By now I think it's been ripped off, but the theft cloaked in the ever-convenient 'trade-secret' category of.. ingredient-withholding) Anyway he possessed enough general knowledge of physics and materials - to see the implications, quickly. So I'd have to guess that at least some of his 'insouciance' is er feigned (??) too.. Like Jack Benny's penuriousness: an exact opposite to his actual character. (Also, like me - he may just be too slothful to do enough of the homework in some situations: and tries to fake it. Like when I look at the 750+ pp. re "Administering W2K" and notice: the book is merely about the Differences between NT and W2K! And the Real manual is 8000 PAGES on CD. Ugh. Billy would totally envelop All Available Time, were we stupid enough to Believe in HMS Barbarian and those who sale er sail in her) Cheers, A.
Post #7,291 by static 8/30/01 9:02:45 PM Reply	I think he's smarter than most people give him credit for. I mean, he and Larry Niven - both separately and together - create science fiction worlds made out of real science. Wade "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"

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