Re: Describe vs XyWrite

[nsivin@xxxxxxxx (Nathan Sivin)]

Harmon Seaver, John Gordon:

What exactly is this power that is being bought at the cost of speed?
More complex but less reliable mail merges? The ability to parse
verbs in search and replace? I can imagine what trouble that can
get you into with some verb that doesn't happen to be in its
glossary.

May I suggest an alternative to account for the bloat that slows
programs down? Every word I have heard or seen from the major
software companies indicates that they assume and plan on the
basis of unending major increases in CPU speed and other system
resources.
What room is there in their designs for people who want to use
the same computer for more than a year?

Kindly keep in mind that software bloat, inconvenient though it
may be for you, keeps the computer industry booming.

-- Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-3325