WPI is all about creating the future, braving that new world. Odd thing is, for all the time we spend pursuing that end, few people ever seem to wonder whether our goal is a good one. Technology seems to be a form of escapism. We pursue technology because of our inability to accept our mortality and the physical limitations our body possesses. Many wouldn't see this as escapism; they would see this unwillingness to let the universe (or simply evolution) dictate our actions as the greatest aspect of the human animal. I see their point, but I don't see their supposed outcome as the eventual one. A sixteen year old who drops out of school may be expressing his independence, demonstrating his freedom from all the norms society tries to impose, but the soundness of his decision is ultimately proved in the life he leads and the enjoyment he gets out of that life. Similarly, if we as humans are able to permanently escape our imposed limitations, and find some form of happiness/contentment/whatever that would have otherwise forever escaped us, fantastic; and I am proved wrong. What I fear, however, is that our pursuit of technology will lead us away, eventually permanently away, from the happiness/contentment/etc. we seek. For all of our recent technological advancements, has the quality of life (as measured by the individuals who live those lives) improved? There are a great number of ideas, fears, theories, and philosophy which stem from this simple train of thought: technology is not necessarily a good thing. I don't have the space or the energy to relate any more of these ideas here; I mention these ideas because I think they are largely overlooked as we go along busily and blindly charging ahead. The only other person I've heard express ideas similar to mine has a horrible, unnecessary, and ultimately unsuccessful occupation: blowing up local bit players in what truly is a global pursuit. The media calls him/her/them the "Unabomber", he/she/they call(s) themselves "FC", or the "Freedom Club". I read portions of the FC manifesto this past summer. The concerns, logic, and beliefs expressed in the material I read are kins of my own. (I do not, however, support or in any way condone the benefitless and unnecessary torture/killing FC has pursued.) While I do not necessarily believe yielding to FC's terrorist demands of manifesto publication was wise, I would recommend the reading of the material. The message is a valid one, no matter who the messenger.
After an introduction like that, what am I doing reviewing the latest hardware and software? I'm not entirely sure; perhaps I am just giving into the dark side, sleeping with the enemy, letting my self-destructive sub-conscious out. Things are rarely black and white... I am sure in the grayness of my actions and thoughts the truth is an amalgam of many things, as it always is.
I have been using Windows 95 ($89) now for about 3 weeks. I didn't buy it at 8:01 am on the morning of August 24th like some people; I bought it at a fashionable hour in the afternoon, about a week later.
If you're looking for a stable, well tested, and almost bugless 32 bit Microsoft operating system, you should be looking at Windows NT Workstation, not Windows 95. Windows NT can run any Windows 95 program as well as all of its own native NT software. It lacks the new interface of Windows 95, but that's not necessarily such a large thing to give up (and they say it's coming to Windows NT sometime in the relatively near future). I would have gone the Windows NT ($350 ish) route were it not for the price.
I have heard many people voice their opinions on the bugginess of Windows 95. I have not seen their dark predictions come to light. Their opinions seem more a defense of their own choice in operating system (not Windows 95) rather than a perfectly impartial evaluation of this operating system. Operating systems bring out all the same fanaticism, blind love/hatred in computer geeks that nationalism and religion can bring out in the rest of humanity. It is a wee bit sick. "Hello, I'm an operating system. I am not insulting your mother; I am not a god. I don't know the devil. Relax."
There are a lot of stupid and frustrating things in Windows 95, admittedly. I have struggled for hours to do the simplest of things. I have spent many untolled hours trying to recover the productively functional set-up I had with Windows 3.11. It has been frustrating, but not without reward.
I see Windows 95 as a definite improvement over Windows 3.11. Windows 95 is an unfinished work that I trust Windows programmer's around the globe will finish; this has already begun. But hey, it's just an operating system. I would convert to another operating system tomorrow if I found in it all that I was looking for.
If you don't have a SCSI controller, it wouldn't be a bad investment ($40-80). The SCSI model would allow your Zip Drive to be instantly connected to and recognized by any computer with a SCSI controller (including many PCs and all Macs). The parallel port model makes more sense for those who need to shuttle large amounts of data between computers which lack SCSI interfaces (where adding SCSI cards to the machines just isn't practical). In theory, the performance you get with SCSI and parallel port model should be the same, provided your parallel port is Extended Capabilities Port (ECP) capable, the proper BIOS settings are made configuring the parallel port to ECP, and your Windows/DOS drivers function and are set up correctly. Theory rarely meets reality. I have only tried to use the Zip Drive with DOS 7.0 and Windows 95, so the Zip Drive problems I have encountered may reflect nothing about Zip Drive use with Windows 3.11 and DOS 6.22.
The drivers Iomega has created for the parallel port Zip Drive under Windows 95 are still unsupported, undocumented Beta versions. The Zip Tools that come with the Zip Drive (which would do disk checking, compressing, and encryption) do not run at all under Windows 95. All evidence (my own tests as well as the dozens of postings in comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc and comp.os.ms-windows.win95.setup) suggests that the drivers do not yet properly support the ECP parallel port; transfer rates are therefore limited to less than 4.2 MB/minute.
The failure to live up to Iomega's own performance claims is my reason for taking the Zip Drive back to the store. With several other low-priced removable media drives now entering the market, it seems like a good time not to buy a removable drive.
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