Newsletter Archives

• Tech I don’t miss, and some I do

  Posted on April 21, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  There is much technology we’re glad to see gone. But “old” does not automatically mean “bad.”

  In her article today, Susan mentions dot-matrix printers. Do I want one? No. That technology dominated general-purpose printing and then personal printing for nearly two decades and worked very well.

  I remember being thrilled when we replaced 10-character-per-second Teletype 33 terminals with 30-CPS, dot-matrix DECWriters. I thought the Epson MX-80 was great.

  Nevertheless, rest in peace.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.16.0, 2025-04-21).

  Commentary Fax, HDDs, History, Keyboards, Laser Printers, Newsletters, Speakers, SSDs, Technology, Turbo Pascal, Visual Basic

• Gregory Forrest “Woody” Leonhard (1951-2025)

  Posted on March 11, 2025 at 19:38 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  Photo by Andy Leonhard

  All of us here extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to Woody’s entire family, and we look forward to carrying on his legacy.

  Commentary In Memoriam, Woody Leonhard

• How the IBM PC changed my life

  Posted on November 25, 2024 at 02:45 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.48 • 2024-11-25

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  In my computing career, two seminal events stand out.

  A few months ago, I gave a presentation at my local computer museum titled “How the NCR 500 changed my life.” That NCR model was originally announced in 1965. I encountered it first during my service in Viet Nam and then in 1970 when I became an instructor in its use during the last year of my hitch.

  I’ll spare you my hour-long talk, but let me give you a sense of the thing. In the field, the computer and its associated peripherals occupied two air-conditioned trailers, each about the size of a 20-foot cargo container. In my classroom at Fort Lee, Virginia, it required two cubicles 10 feet square.

  The Army version of the NCR had a whopping 800 words (4,800 bytes) of memory. Storage? Punch cards.

  That machine propelled me into computer science.

  A decade later, in August 1981, IBM announced the IBM PC. I would not be at the helm of this newsletter today, much less writing this article, had it not been for that personal computer.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.48.0, 2024-11-25).

  Commentary Creative Computing, IBM, IBM PC, IBM Personal Computer, Newsletters

• Tonight

  Posted on July 13, 2024 at 23:03 CDT by Susan Bradley

  The other day Brian wrote an article about how Social media is killing our kids. I think its damaging us too.

  Tomorrow, I urge you to say hello to someone you don’t know. Start a conversation with a neighbor you haven’t talked with in a while.  Let’s find common ground and not “sides” in this world. Life is too precious.

  Comments will be turned off and thank you for understanding.

  Commentary

• The software subscription model

  Posted on June 10, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  My data is being held hostage.

  A recent email from TechSmith, the maker of Camtasia and Snagit, rubbed me the wrong way. This came on the heels of an annoying experience trying to activate Adobe Creative Suite 3 (CS3, from 2006) on my newest computer. I admit to knowing, in advance, that I would be annoyed.

  I then started thinking about software subscription plans and their pros and cons.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.24.0, 2024-06-10).

  Commentary Adobe, Camtasia, Creative Cloud, Creative Suite, JetBrains, Microsoft, Microsoft 365, Newsletters, Office, Snagit, Software, Software Subscriptions, Subscriptions, TechSmith

• Artificial minds

  Posted on May 13, 2024 at 02:42 CDT by Michael Covington • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Michael A. Covington

  Artificial intelligence changes the ethics and computing scene.

  In my previous article, Ethics and computing, I discussed how the rise of personal computing created a break in our natural understanding of ethics.

  Now, the rise of AI adds further complications. Let’s delve into that a bit.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.20.0, 2024-05-13).

  Commentary AI, Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Ethics, Newsletters

• Ethics and computing

  Posted on May 6, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by Michael Covington • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.19 • 2024-05-06

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Michael A. Covington

  Computer ethics and AI ethics are easier than you think, for one big reason.

  That reason is simple: if it’s wrong to do something without a computer, it’s still wrong to do it with a computer.

  See how much puzzlement that principle clears away.

  Consider, for example, the teenagers in several places who have reportedly used generative AI to create realistic nude pictures of their classmates. How should they be treated? Exactly as if they had been good artists and had drawn the images by hand. The only difference is that computers made it easier. Computers don’t change what’s right or wrong.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.19.0, 2024-05-06).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Commentary Accuracy, AI, Authority, Ethics, Mass Communication, Newsletters

• Bing Chat is sorry

  Posted on January 22, 2024 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  I thought it had no emotions.

  It took only one sentence for Bing Chat to annoy me.

  More importantly, that one sentence was so loaded that it begs for comment. And it raises serious questions about AI.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.04.0, 2024-01-22).

  Commentary AI, Artificial Intelligence, Bing, Bing Chat, Copilot, Edge, Newsletters

• The Three Laws of Robotics

  Posted on April 10, 2023 at 02:45 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 20.15 • 2023-04-10

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  Along with its recent announcement of Copilot, Microsoft made a point of mentioning “responsible AI.”

  Undoubtedly, part of the reason for bringing the matter up was the almost instant controversy surrounding Bing AI, Microsoft’s integration of its AI engine into Bing and Edge, especially its apparently threatening behavior toward a reporter.

  What does “responsible AI” mean?

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.15.0, 2023-04-10).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Commentary AI, Artificial Intelligence, Bing AI, Copilot, Newsletters, Robotics

• Behind the scenes: The site

  Posted on November 28, 2022 at 02:43 CST by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  A newsletter about Windows isn’t run on Windows.

  I’ve always found it interesting to see how something works, and I’ll bet many of our readers do, too. So I’m going to use my space in this bonus issue by giving you a peek into the technology we use to run the site and our forums, to prepare the newsletter, and to get it to your inbox.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.48.0, 2022-11-28).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Commentary Email, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, WordPress

• Behind the scenes: The newsletter

  Posted on November 28, 2022 at 02:42 CST by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  COMMENTARY

  

  By Will Fastie

  When I took this job, I was surprised at the number of moving parts involved in publishing the newsletter.

  My predecessor, editor emeritus Tracey Capen, did an excellent job with general organization and collaboration. Tracey wrote a very comprehensive document in OneNote about how to produce the newsletter, which was extremely helpful in my early days. I was very grateful to have that guide because otherwise, I would have been at sea on day one.

  Publishing an issue of the newsletter involves a lot of steps.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.48.0, 2022-11-28).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Commentary Adobe Photoshop Elements, CSS, Dreamweaver, Editors, Expression Web, HTML, Newsletters, Photo Editing, Publishing

• It’s Happy Sysadmin Day!

  Posted on July 29, 2022 at 10:22 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  It’s the 23rd annual sysadmin day and I’d like to include everyone who handles their own technology in their home as part of that “happy” appreciation. Personally I think home technology is sometimes more confusing and harder to do than business tech. Too often vendors assume that home users don’t need options, or need set up to be hidden by or only done with apps and phones.

  So pat yourself on the back for having one of the hardest jobs on the planet: Keeping up with home technology!

  In other news – I didn’t realize that 2022 is the year that George Jetson was born! In two days he will be born!

  

  “Meet George Jetson….. His Boy Elroy……..Daughter Judy…….Jane his wife.”

  Theme song here

  Commentary Patch Lady Posts
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