Re: 486's + windows

[Carol Simpson <csimpson@TENET.EDU>]

I sympathize, Mark, especially since I support 180+ machines in our
district's WAN and the networked CD-ROM programs we run on them.  I can tell
you that the reason producers upgrade and improve is that they are
fighting for market share, and their customers demand bigger, better,
faster, glitzier programs.  It is a fact of electronic life that a
computer will likely be obsolete within two years of purchase.  The
estimated life span of a non-upgraded library automation program is under
5 years.  As library consumers we start out simple and quickly become
aware of the foibles and bugs of the program we buy.  We hound the
producers to correct the problems and make the user interface just a
little bit friendlier.  Unfortunately those enhancements require faster
processors, more ram than DOS can provide, or other "Bells and
Whistles".  Newspapers don't set type anymore because that can't meet the
rapid demand.  XTs and 286s won't meet sophisticated information demands
anymore, either.

Carol Mann Simpson                   csimpson@tenet.edu
Facilitator - Library Technology          214 882-7450
Mesquite (TX) Independent School District