 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Toys Or Tools? (or: I only bought this thing for the kids!) Dave Mitchell |
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Funny things, PCs. They make people do the most astounding things and a whole new mythology has developed about why we buy them and what uses that we put them to.
Let's have a look at the various reasons why we buy these beastly things that rule our lives.
- "I bought it so that I can bring my work home and finish it in the same way as I would at work."
- "The kids use them at school and I want to know what they are talking about. Anyway they'll be able to do their homework on it."
- "I can keep my small business /home finances in better order by keeping my accounts on a PC."
Let's face it. We are proposing to shell out something like $2,000-$3,000 of our hard earned shekels on something that could be done with pen, paper, an abacus and a filing cabinet inmost cases. Then, of course, there is the software which can cost more than the machine itself - that's a lot of dollars.
People seem to have some sort of reluctance to use their PCs for something other than serious and sober tasks. Must be their financial conscience sitting on their shoulders or something.
This is the greatest disservice that users can do themselves. Sure, your PC is a powerful tool to assist you and your family or business in handling all sorts of complicated matters, but it is also the most versatile toy that people have ever devised.
What prompts this is another computer magazine article and chats I've had with both regular PC users and people thinking of buying a PC for the first time. The article was based on the reluctance of people to use their purpose-bought home PCs to play games or pursue other frivolous (?) activities.
The thrust of the article was that the people surveyed didn't play games because they did consider it a frivolous use of their tool and they didn't spend all that money to play games. A strange attitude. Did they spend all that money to have their PC sit idle when they weren't doing something serious on it? Surely it's better to play an interactive game on your PC rather than veg out in front of the tele?
Many would be the time, if you were at my house on a Saturday, that I would be working diligently on my wife's business accounts but if you sat there all day you would hear the sounds of exploding spaceships accompanied by yells of "Die Kilrathi Scum!" (my favorite game is Wing Commander 2), followed later by the squeals of my modem connecting to the Melb PC BBS to collect my daily mail packet.
Multitasking is not just something you can do in Windows or OS/2. It's something your PC can do all the time. It's not just a tool, it's also a toy. So enjoy and don't feel guilty about it.
Reprinted from the Jan / Feb 1994 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
