Text 12536, 105 rader
Skriven 2011-06-22 15:20:27 av Sean Dennis (1:18/200)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson
Ärende: BARSTOOLS 497  10622
============================
Hello, Glen.

Wednesday June 22 2011 at 10:08, you wrote to Michael Loo:

 GJ> I believe that there is a liaison between computer manufacturers and
 GJ> program writers so that the latter deliberately add to respectable,
 GJ> functioning programs, totally unnecessary pretty pictures, bells and
 GJ> whistles that require greater memory and computing power to run.  Then
 GJ> the manufacturers suddenly come out with their latest whiz-bang model
 GJ> to suit, and they all make lots of money.

The term that's used for what you described is "feature creep".  Unfortunately,
it seems that many programs that start out "light" wind up trying to be
everything to everybody (a good example of this is Firefox).  I had a friend
who worked for Microsoft developing Windows in the late 90s-early 00s that told
me the reason why many Windows programs crash is because of sloppy programming
and that programmers used less than 10% of the Windows API, causing the
programs to be rather unstable.

By the way, it's Microsoft that really drives the PC hardware market.  If
you'll notice, with every new release of Windows, it requires more and more
hardware power and memory.  So yes, it's a rather symbiotic relationship with
certain PC manufacturers, such as HP/Compaq, Dell, Lenovo, and Microsoft.

However, if one doesn't want to play "keeping up with the Joneses", you don't
have to.  My main personal machine, the one I'll be using for the next four
years while going through college, is a HP/Compaq "business" machine from 2006
running Debian Linux and the BBS is on an old (circa 2001) machine that hums
happily away running OS/2 Warp 4.52.

There's a saying in some IT circles: "It used to be smart people using dumb
computers.  Now it's dumb people using smart computers.  Thanks, Microsoft!"

(By the way, can you email me again?  I have lost your message in the move to
Leeenuuux and have what I wanted to give you at hand.)

Now to try to salvage this rather off-topic message, here's a favorite recipe
from my Meal-Master database:

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: Alton Brown's Baked Macaroni and Cheese
 Categories: Main dish, Altonbrown, Seandennis
      Yield: 6 Servings

    1/2 lb Elbow macaroni
      3 T  Butter
      3 T  Flour
      1 T  Powdered mustard
      3 c  Milk
    1/2 c  Yellow onion, finely diced
      1    Bay leaf
    1/3 t  Paprika
      1    Large egg
     12 oz Sharp cheddar, shredded
      1 t  Kosher salt
           Fresh black pepper
           === TOPPING ===
      3 T  Butter
      1 c  Panko bread crumbs

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

  In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.

  While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk
  in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes.
  Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and
  paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.

  Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and
  pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart
  casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

  Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs to coat. Top
  the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from
  oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

  Remember to save leftovers for fried Macaroni and Cheese.

  Prep Time: 20 minutes
  Cook Time: 45 minutes
  Level: Easy
  Serves: 6 to 8 servings

  Note from Sean: I have made this dish myself and it is delicious.  I
  leave out the mustard, however, since I just don't like it.  Instead
  of using diced yellow onion, dried onion flakes work just as well.  I
  like to use the sharpest cheddar I can get with this recipe.  The
  panko bread crumbs really are what makes this dish so good!

  From:
  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-macaroni-and-chee
  e-r ecipe/index.html

  MM'd by Sean Dennis on 27 January 2011.

MMMMM

Later,
Sean

... Cole's Law: thinly sliced cabbage.
--- GoldED/2 3.0.1
 * Origin: Paragon BBS - 423.434.0851 - paragon.darktech.org (1:18/200)