BMK BMK The Bitmap Kid Presents... ----------------------------- Rant! -------- Today, we'll look through the ROUND window, boys and girls. This month, I'll rant about PCs and computers on TV. Please don't chuck fruit at me after this.... PCs. Is it me or are PCs actually really naff at heart? I'm not really going to have a go at them - but I do feel that some of the basic elements of a good computer are missing in PCs. After using the Falcon's (don't groan) TOS 4 and also Windows, I was astonished at this Windows thing! 'My TOS 1.4 is better than this!' I cried! I know it takes time to get used to different systems, but where the basic elements of what I would call a good system are missing, well - how could I ever get used to it? It seems to me that the PC has got soooo big (in popularity) that, in the end some of its software, and hardware, systems haven't advanced as fast as they should do. I've had a lot of experience with DOS and the crusty old text input after A>. I can understand DOS, a (very, graphically speaking) basic system for general file operations. Great. Windows? WHAT?????? PC users spend loads to get this thing installed, and what do you get? True, a pretty desktop, but other than that, compared to TOS..... For instance, on the ST/Falcon I would simply open the drive window by double-clicking on the icon. I would then select the file, drag it to the drive B (or whatever) icon and let go, a few second later - done! On the PC the same operation took several program loads and then a much more complicated series of operations - and this was done by an experienced Windows user!! I think PCs are great machines, but I still hate some parts of the environment. Another thing I don't like is all this 'six megabytes of disk space' for Windows. If these PC companies think their Windows is soooo awful that they dare not put it onto plug-in ROMs or a little cheaper then why don't they make Windows decent?? People say 'it's cheaper to change software than hardware' but for the price of a software upgrade you could easily get a ROM upgrade - the only difference is the makers get slightly less cash profit! Other things about Windows I can live with, the different Window switches etc, I could get used to that, in time - but the rest.... I think Atari should learn more about some of the great features of the PC - like the standards in different software programs, but the PC people also need to learn a lot from Atari computers - like disk operations without having to load programs or type lines of text and more software in ROMS. I talk as a complete amateur to the PC, and these are just some points I have found - what do you think? Am I crazy and don't know a thing? Or am I just very confused??!! Well I don't know! TV computers. Why is it for yet ANOTHER month I am destined to watch crap computer-based programs on TV? I mean - there are only two REAL choices, (unless you have a satellite dish) and that's Games 'crusty old man' Master or Bad Influence. Let's look quickly at both shows (going by popular opinion): Games Master is a badly put together, badly presented 'show' which is totally console based. Bad Influence is a lot better with REAL presenters and REAL computers, although far too childish ('cos of its slot). So what can I (as the only one who wants a decent show, I don't think) watch?! Nothing. Okay, so I watch Bad I and GM because I'm interested, in general, on their content. But I think it's just a crime that in the 1990s where computer interest must be far higher than 'Bart' there is still nothing decent to watch on British TV, anywhere. It wouldn't take much - an hour, or even HALF an hour show with living presenters, the lack of computer bias so ALL top formats are included, from Amigas to NESs from SNESs to PCs, a good range of games and a tad of more serious applications. I seem to be talking of Bad Influence here - but Bad Influence is let dramatically down by its slot, Children's ITV. Okay, sure, there aren't many really good children's telly programs around nowadays, but I AM SURE that Bad I is missing its ideal audience at that hour - kids may be interested in console games and even computers - but in the end who makes up the biggest age group, 5-9 year olds?! Maybe in consoles, but in hard electronic adventures and more techie like you and I? Oh come.... My ideal solution would be that GM and Bad I swap places! GM would have its ideal, console based slot for the console-brainwashed population (no, I have nothing against consoles really....) and Bad I could start being a more 'mature' show, again for its ideal audience. But will this ever happen? No. Why? Due to the same reason Def 2 is such a flop and the Beeb can't show more shows (like Star Trek TNG, ehum) more often. These TV people, I'm sure, live in their little own 'TV world' and have no contact outside of it. That's why programs like 'Dad's Army' and M*A*S*H* (he he he) are still coming up again and again in today's world while modern programs, perhaps computery programs get naff slots with naff budgets, I mean, look at that GM set...! Bitmap turns to his pet Jaguar with a sigh - 'Well, Fido, I suppose we'll survive with our good 'ol SynTax. And it's good OLD editor. Ha ha ha!' BMK BMK