[Elecraft] Technology Change

[Dauer, Edward]

Two thoughts on this . . . 

One is about a book published some years ago titled “Who Moved My Cheese!”  It was aimed at a business management audience, with the message that when the cheese is in a different place, it really doesn’t make sense to go back to where it used to be and try to amanage as if it’s still there.  A short book, and a great read.

The other, which has been exaggerated but the core of which rings true, is about the development of the typewriter and its use by law firms in the late 1800s.  A central character in the practice then was the scrivener, the human predecessor to the typewriter whose professional self-worth retarded adoption of the then-new technology for half a generation.  Equally a part of our legends are senior partners in the so-called silk stocking firms who admonished their young clerks that while they might use that typewriter thing for whatever their own purposes were, when the clerk wrote to THAT lawyer’s clients, the letter would be written by hand and absolutely nothing else.  

To this day some of us – including yours truly – still like the feel and smell of buckram.  And of CW generated in the old way that we could watch happening in the red glow of the plate in the 6146.  And in our mire still think it quite magical that A to D conversion actually works.

All of which is admittedly OT; but the bands are closed for the night.  

Atavistically,   

Ted, KN1CBR

Edward A. Dauer
Dean Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Law
University of Denver

------------------------------
    
    Message: 21
    Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2016 02:14:33 +0000
    From: Eric J <eric_csuf at hotmail.com>
    To: "elecraft at mailman.qth.net" <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
    Subject: Re: [Elecraft] DATA-A tx freq offset with digital modes
    Message-ID:
    	<BN3PR0301MB0884D65FE27C5C666000A7048EC80 at BN3PR0301MB0884.namprd03.prod.outlook.com>
    	
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
    
    You haven't adjusted to on-screen technology, because paper technology is familiar. That was the main point I saw in Guy's note. Many of us hams are hung up on analog technology, and some of us insist on imposing this on digital technology such as the K3. We want the K3 to work like the old analog stuff did/does. Older people have to relearn things to deal with new technology as new technology. Younger people who grow up on the new digital technology will likely do the same thing when they are older and technology again changes.
    
    I wrote professionally for half my life (autos and motorcycles). I started on a manual typewriter then an electric. When the TRS-80 came out and Michael Shrayer's Electric Pencil became available, I switched completely to composing, editing and submitting electronically by about 1980. Affordable printers were crappy 40 column thermal dot matrix at first, then mostly paper dot-matrix. I learned to do as much as I could on the screen to avoid those abysmal printers. It turned out to be a good decision.
    
    All that said, I love my analog (mostly) technology K2's. hi.
    
    Eric KE6US