CompuServe Thread

Autodesk Multimedia Forum · Hware/OpSys/video

3DS &Pentium

6 messages in this thread

#142911From: SyndesisDec 20, 1994 6:11 PM

Why have people gotten so up in arms about a hardware bug, when no one sneezes when Windows crashes, taking out all application data with it? Or of any errors that might've been in any C compiler's math library for non-coprocessor machines? When was the last time you heard a complaint that some compiler's IEEE routines weren't quite right? In fact, it's quite common for these to be buggy, yet it doesn't make the front pages of the Wall Street Journal.

#142935From: krazy imagesDec 20, 1994 9:19 PM

John, Why are you asking that if you already know the answer? =) ana /krazy images

#143086From: SyndesisDec 21, 1994 12:09 PM

My point is, I'm not sure I do know the answer. Intel certainly spreads a lot of ad dollars, just as Microsoft does, so that wouldn't explain why no one complains about Windows crashes as opposed to Pentium's bugs. Certainly there's lots of resentment against both companies, as well as people who think they're great.

#143132From: krazy imagesDec 21, 1994 3:53 PM

"Certainly there's lots of resentment against both companies, as well as people who think they're great." And certainly, I can't think of any good reason about how anybody could react so strongly to companies in both ways. Well, at least you think about the most basic instincts in consumer behavious, that is. Or maybe we need new idols and figures of hate now that Elvis and Hitler are finaly death (not according to the National Examiner but… =) ana /krazy images

#143634From: John SchmidtDec 25, 1994 1:20 AM

John, >> Why have people gotten so up in arms about a hardware bug, when no one sneezes when Windows crashes I think the biggest reason is that people *expect* software to have bugs, but the fact that it was easy to prove that most $10 calculators could provide a correct answer to calculations that their $4000 Pentiums floundered on is what riled most users. If they hadn't been able to so easily prove this fact for themselves, I'm sure it would have been mostly only theoretical mathematicians that would have been concerned. John

#143664From: John K. JordanDec 25, 1994 11:22 PM

>>software bugs… Also the psychological aspect: a known hardware vs a software bug is like having a genetic defect as opposed to a head cold. The software could change tomorrow.