Word: spreadsheets
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...because for certain purposes it makes good sense. In the business world, it is already being embraced as a tool to train workers in such complex skills as aircraft maintenance and computer repair. But multimedia still lacks what computer companies call the "killer application," a program like the electronic spreadsheet or the word processor that is so compelling that consumers will buy a new device just to run it. As Marshall McLuhan pointed out, every new medium takes its content from its predecessor: early films were simply recorded stage plays; the first TV shows were converted radio dramas. The same...
...with the program are asking for trouble. The Bush Administration in April placed India and Thailand on the Commerce Department watch list for possible retaliation because of those countries' casual treatment of property rights. In Thailand, cited as the most flagrant violator, copycat versions of Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet software sell for the equivalent of $50 instead of the $500 U.S. price. New movies like David Lynch's Wild at Heart, not yet available on video in the U.S., go for $4 a tape...
Harvard enjoys inflicting high fees on its students for other things as well, such as late registration and late study card filing. The computer QRR test should be abolished, or at least completely revamped. Some knowledge of computers, such as familiarity with database or spreadsheet software, might be useful, but knowing how to program a computer to count cookies serves absolutely no practical purpose, and charging $40 to students who cannot do so in the allotted time is spiteful. Harvard College administration should do some quantitative reasoning of its own, and stop the "QRR tax." Jonathan E. Sigel...
...innovative efforts at the moment are failing to fill users' needs. They believe the expansion during the early and mid-1980s was based largely on the proliferation of such breakthrough products as the Apple II personal computer (1977); WordStar, the wordprocessing program (1979); VisiCalc, an electronic accounting ledger or spreadsheet (1979); the IBM PC (1981); Apple's Macintosh, with its advanced graphics capability (1984); and desktop- publishing gear like Aldus PageMaker...
While the computer industry offers more products than ever before, the vast majority represent incremental improvements or product refinements, "not leaps and bounds," contends Mitchell Kapor, the creator of the top-selling Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Kapor believes the industry has failed to develop products that would make technology easier to use. Says he: "The industry is shooting at the wrong target. It continues to emphasize power at the expense of usability. It's paying too much attention to the engine and not enough to the dashboard...