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Each week our Boomer-In-Charge, Hershel Chicowitz, has something to say about life, society, or what's going on... from the perspective of a boomer. (Imagine Andy Rooney... less 40 years.) This is what's on his mind for the week of April 6:
Lucent Technologies is a high tech firm that was spun off from AT&T. They have been running an advertisment on television promoting... something they do, I don't really know. In the ad they say, "Lucent Technologies is proud to announce the end of the Internet as we know it." One might assume then, that big changes have taken place in the Internet.
Well, that's news to me. The only difference I have noticed in the last year is the explosion in the number of users and web sites. As far as I can tell, the basic technology is exactly the same. Oh I know, Microsoft has introduced its Internet Explorer 4.0, and Netscape has something to match it. These new browsers are supposed to make "dynamic HTML" and "Active X Controls" (whatever the heck they are) make the Internet burst forth with new energy... whatever that means.
Our chief programmer here at BBHQ says that all these new "controls" do is provide some of the basic features the real programming languages have had for a decade. Big deal!
And while that is all fine and dandy, most people out there are still using Internet Explorer 3, Netscape 3, and AOL, which is something like Internet Explorer two-and-a-half. Despite all the talk about high speed modems and direct connections, most people.... at least most people who come to BBHQ... are still connecting with 28.8kb or 33.3kb modems. And even if you do have a faster modem, the quality of the phone lines or the limitations of your Internet Service Provider (ISP) may slow you down.
And if you were one of the first people to buy Microsoft's Windows 95 or Internet Explorer 4.0, you know what it is like to be a guinea pig. Those early versions were filled with problems. And when you do install the new software, you'd better have a super-fast computer (at least a Pentium II), or it will seem like you are riding a tricycle on the Information Superhighway. (That may make you think twice before you download that new version of AOL. What kind of a computer do you suppose Steve Case - the head of AOL - uses? How fast do you suppose his connection to the Internet is? And who do you suppose fixes his computer when it breaks down.?)
As Paul Harvey says, all that they call progress isn't. Some of the high-end Internet site developers are creating sites that use this new technology; they assume that you are connected to the Internet with some superfast, direct line. The last time I accessed the Microsoft home page (with my 33kb modem), it took about 3 minutes for the page to load. By the time the thing was done, I'd forgotten what I went there for. Reminds me of the army: "Hurry up and wait."
About half the time I try to do something even the slightest bit sophisticated, I end up overturned on a dirt road. The connection fails, or the service is not available, or the site does not load, or the file takes forever to transfer. Last night I uploaded a small change to BBHQ. My data transferred at a rate of 25 characters per second. Gees, I can almost type that fast.
So we here at BBHQ will leave the high-end razzle-dazzle to the nerds. We're going to continue to develop web pages aimed at the "typical" visitor. But that does present us with a problem. We are trying to offer more music and pictures on our site. Our hopes are that we can have a lot of music in our Music Room, which is scheduled to open on May 1. In order to hear music on your computer, first you have to have a sound card and speakers. We think that most users have those by now. But in order to play music from a web site, you have to download the music file(s) to your computer. Using a 33.3kb modem, it can take two minutes to download 20 seconds of music. That's horrible, especially if you want to offer a total of 10-15 minutes of music.
There is some new software that is supposed to make it somewhat less painful. A company called RealAudio can compress the music files and send them to your computer faster. Then their software, which also has to be installed on your computer, uncompresses the files and plays them. The result is supposed to be "streaming audio." We have tested this software at BBHQ; so far, it is just a streaming pain in the keister.
It is also true to a lesser degree with pictures. One of our reunion pages has about 12 pictures on it. It's great, but it takes about 2 minutes to load the page. That makes us less enthusiastic about filling up other pages on our site with pictures.
I guess such is the case with any developing technology; it took the automobile industry about 70 years (and a lot of competitive pressure from the Japanese) to come up with a truly comfortable, reliable car. So I guess I should just be patient. But I am going to have to ask you to do so, too. More music and better and more pictures are on the way... but it's going to take a while.
Let's see; a few years ago, Bill Gates was worth about $17 billion, and 40% of American households had computers. Today, Gates is worth about $50 billion, and 60% of American households have a computer. My fear is that there is just not enough money in the universe to fill the gap.
Stay tuned. "Film at 11."
Hershel will have something else to say on Monday, April 13; mark your calendar to come back to BBHQ every Monday.
| The BBHQ Album of the Month is "Old Friends Live on Stage (Deluxe Edition) (2 CD/1 DVD)," by Simon & Garfunkel. If you were fortunate enough to see them in concert last year, I do not have to sell you. The concert was terrific! This album collection includes 55 songs, plus their new recording, "Citizen of the Planet," and one of the songs sung by the Everly Brothers during the concert. The DVD was recorded during their concert in Madison Square Garden in 2003. For any S&G fan, this is a must have! But then, you knew that already, didn't you? |
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The BBHQ Book of the Month is
"Vinyl Highway," by
Dee Dee Phelps. You remember her as Dee Dee, of Dick and Dee Dee.
Together, they took a decade long ride on the rock and roll roller
coaster. It was a heck of a ride! Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach
Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee
rubbed shoulders with all of them. This is her "behind the scenes" story.
It's pretty cool.
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Copyright © 1998-2008 Baby Boomer HeadQuarters (BBHQ) All rights reserved.
rev. 11/29/98