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The Emularity

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Re: The Emularity

#101

Jason Scott is such a weird and wonderful person. I highly recommend watching BBS: The Documentary. Episode 8 was especially interesting and moving in a way I didn't expect. I would say, in brutal honesty, the production values are (unfortunately) low, but the content is pure gold, and well makes up for it. So my thanks go out to Jason Scott and the small crowd of computing historians he unofficially represents. As a…

Nope, I'm going to do it, I'm going to focus right on one sentence and ignore all the compliments. The BBS documentary was shot across 4 years on my own dime (no crowdfunding, my family helped pay for the camera) and traveling to 20 states, from 2001-2004, and then released in 2005. (10 years ago). This means some footage was shot as long as 14 years ago. "Production Value" is a very specific term - it is almost alwa…

Aww geez, I had no intention for my remarks to be disparaging; quite the opposite.

I completely agree that, given your constraints, the better use of money was to interview more people. What I meant was that it's a shame you had to choose. I believe your efforts deserve more recognition, and more funding so you don't have to make compromises between interviewing more people or having more crew. You should have both. That's what I intended my remark to convey. By no means did I mean "This film is crappy, but I love it anyway." I meant "This film is wonderful. I wish the creator was better enabled so there were Blu-rays of this stuff, with crisp, clean HD video." Stuff like that.

> Choose your words carefully, please.

I truly did. I usually spend an inordinate amount of time writing emails/comments, trying to choose words that are clear and concise. Its a byproduct of my social anxiety (it stems from an ever-present fear that what I'm doing/saying will be misinterpreted). In fact, I'm probably going to miss breakfast because I've spent the past 45 minutes trying to write this comment and clear up the confusion... But, yeah, sometimes people have different meanings for different words. It isn't a reflection of whether they took the time to choose the words. Its a reflection of different cultures, and how they apply different means to words. I'm not a film maker, so I guess production value means something different between us. I'm sorry my comments did not communicate effectively. I truly respect you, and your work. Please keep making documentaries and doing what you do! There needs to be more of it!

Re: The Emularity

#102
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, I'm going to do it, I'm going to focus right on one sentence and ignore all the compliments. The BBS documentary was shot across 4 years on my own dime (no crowdfunding, my family helped pay for the camera) and traveling to 20 states, from 2001-2004, and then released in 2005. (10 years ago). This means some footage was shot as long as 14 years ago. "Production Value" is a very specific term - it is almost alwa…

"High Production Values" implies, to me, cameras that cost many tens of thousands of dollars, several cameramen, dozens of other crew, etc. One person working extremely hard for many years with the most expensive cameras available on a high personal budget speaks _quality_ to me, but I would still use the phrase "Low Production Value". So I'd use that phrase reverently in this case, not derogatorily. It's pretty awes…

Yes, I think you express my meanings clearly. Now I feel bad, because I had hoped to make Jason Scott's day better by recommending and praising his work, but I think I ended up making it worse :(

Re: The Emularity

#103
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't actually make any sense your way, though.

That can be your opinion, but computer usage is a subjective experience and I'm entitled to my opinion as well. I find Windows 3.1 to be a superior computing experience; it has a charm and novelty about it that later Windows versions haven't been able to duplicate. I find the experience richer and more satisfying. Also, I like having to restart my computer and swap out physical floppy disks -- the tactile sensation a…

Your contributions to this thread have been my favorite moments in HN for the past two weeks. Thank you.

Re: The Emularity

#104
post #89
post #81

it’s running inside the EM-DOSBOX system, since Windows 3.x was essentially a very complicated program running inside DOS. (When Windows 95 came out, a big deal was made by Gates and Co. that it was the “end” of the DOS prompt, although they were seriously off by a number of years.) Nitpicking just a little bit: Windows 3 didn't run inside DOS. Maybe "on top of it" if you want to put it that way, but not "inside". It…

It gets a bit metaphysical at some point, but 'on top of' or 'after' probably are better prepositions to use when describing the relationship between DOS and Windows. 'Instead of' would also work, in the case of Windows 95, as it would be fair to say that simply exiting Windows involves resetting everything back to the way DOS had it, then rerunning DOS. And when you ran DOS inside a window in Windows 95, then that w…

I'm not sure but it seems my point has been lost in the way.

DOS is a real mode OS. Windows 95 is a protected mode. Windows 3 was some kind of dumbed-down protected mode that 286 had. Actually I believe it could work in different modes.

The distinction is pretty important. Windows 95, that needed a 386 minimum, was a true protected mode system, with virtual memory and pre-emptive multitasking. It would be absurd to call it "a DOS program" just because you could launch it from the DOS prompt.

So the same can be said of Windows 3. It changed processor mode, not so radically as 95, but enough to exit real mode... calling it "just a DOS program" is simply wrong.

Re: The Emularity

#105
post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That can be your opinion, but computer usage is a subjective experience and I'm entitled to my opinion as well. I find Windows 3.1 to be a superior computing experience; it has a charm and novelty about it that later Windows versions haven't been able to duplicate. I find the experience richer and more satisfying. Also, I like having to restart my computer and swap out physical floppy disks -- the tactile sensation a…

Your contributions to this thread have been my favorite moments in HN for the past two weeks. Thank you.

You're quite welcome. It was great to have an opportunity to evangelize a subject quite near and dear to me, namely Windows 3.1. Hopefully my comments motivate you to try it out sometime, or do a "bind use test" between it and a modern OS like say Windows 7.

Re: The Emularity

#106
post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your contributions to this thread have been my favorite moments in HN for the past two weeks. Thank you.

You're quite welcome. It was great to have an opportunity to evangelize a subject quite near and dear to me, namely Windows 3.1. Hopefully my comments motivate you to try it out sometime, or do a "bind use test" between it and a modern OS like say Windows 7.

Installing to a VM as we speak. I plan to compare it to a copy of Yggdrasil Linux I'm installing simultaneously

Re: The Emularity

#107
post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"High Production Values" implies, to me, cameras that cost many tens of thousands of dollars, several cameramen, dozens of other crew, etc. One person working extremely hard for many years with the most expensive cameras available on a high personal budget speaks _quality_ to me, but I would still use the phrase "Low Production Value". So I'd use that phrase reverently in this case, not derogatorily. It's pretty awes…

Yes, I think you express my meanings clearly. Now I feel bad, because I had hoped to make Jason Scott's day better by recommending and praising his work, but I think I ended up making it worse :(

We hugged it out, all is good. Apologies for the derail; the "artiste" is hypersensitive about his children.
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