Well, like most of the folks around here, I took a computer course when I was in high school. It wasn't a computer course in a modern sense of the word, since the computer industry was in its infancy at the time; and this isn't a knock about my age or anything like that, either! I did my first couple of computer courses (one on the basics of computers, the other on Fortran of all things) at this time, thinking that it might stand me in good stead later on. I hated them! (Both courses, but the Fortran course more than the other.) To be honest, I developed a sort of computer phobia around this time, primarily because I didn't think as logically as I needed to in order to work with these diabolical machines (although I did manage to learn the basics of logic and how to do flowcharts, something that has served me in good stead since that time), and because I felt intimidated by the machines. I moved on to other things, but after my experience in the banking world, the call of the computer wooed me... I had a morbid fear of computers at this time, as I've mentioned above, but I found myself lured to the Honeywell Institute in Toronto. The intensive courses at Honeywell were no piece of cake, the course lasting for eight months, and when I came out of this "practical and real-world programming" environment, I got a job immediately as a computer programmer with a small company.
My experience at the Honeywell Institute was rather profound, not to mention exhausting and wearing, and by the time I graduated there, I was familiar with eighteen different computer languages, was able to write three hundred lines of code in about two hours, had experience in a systems analysis environment, and had learned to work with database software among other things. The real claim-to-fame of the Honeywell Institute was that they taught one how to work with computers and software in a *business* environment, and the programs that we wrote every day were ones that were true business applications. As mentioned, I got a job immediately on graduating from Honeywell, and went to work in the business environment.
I learned several other languages during the time I spent with this company, and all in all, it was a worthwhile experience that gave me more of a real-world set of lessons. Software design and crafting has undergone many changes since that time, but I realized that I wanted to have more than that, and decided to see what systems analysis was like from the professional point of view. If nothing else, I started dealing with people working in the various businesses that the systems consulting firm I went to work with dealt with... At this time, I learned the true meaning of "user-friendly" and got a lot more experience with MS Windows, UNIX, and some work on the Mac. (Yes, there are businesses out there that actually work with the Mac!) It was also during this time that I got my first experience with servers, networks, and an operating system called OS/2, but you can see more about that operating system in the OS/2 Warp pages that you can look at. Systems analysis and design were very different from the basic kinds of programming that I had done before that, but it was a very rewarding career in ways that I can't even describe, and it allowed me to work with people, not just the machines, unlike the programming side of things. If nothing else, working in the systems analysis business made me look beneath the hood of the software, at some of the innards and basic means of developing software, and that gave me a whole new perspective on the design and use of computer software. Moreso, this job was a challenge... Eventually, I accepted a job offer from the company that I worked for to move to Ottawa, where the firm had just opened an office, and went happily back to the city that I had left eight years earlier. In Ottawa, I gained a lot of experience working with mainframes, moreso than I had as a programmer, and learned several more languages and how to work with peripheral systems. My expertise was extended somewhat to hardware matters, and I learned how to do some maintenance on hardware and the like, although to be honest, my specialty was software - and to this day, I don't consider myself to be an expert when it comes to hardware, although I know more about this end of the machines than I did back then.
Strangely enough, even after accepting a job back in Ottawa with a computer firm, and working as a computer consultant for the last few years, I hadn't ever had a computer in my home for a long time. I never felt the need for a computer at home, simply because there were other things that I wanted to do.
About seven years ago (which would make it about April of 1990), I finally caved in and purchased for myself a very simple, not elegant computer. A Packard Bell 386SX with 2 Mb of RAM, a 40 Mb hard drive, and a 2400 modem. Basics, not convoluted, since I didn't really want to mess with things...and then discovered how much easier the damn machine made my life in terms of household accounting, writing short fiction (a hobby of mine that I haven't really dealt with on these pages), and other stuff. And I discovered the Bulletin Board Service (or BBS) phenomenon. I was doomed. <g> Granted the computer wasn't fancy, it wasn't state-of-the-art even at the time I bought it, but it was my first computer, it was simple, and it was a Packard Bell, which I had a lot of experience with through the schooling and the personal computer that I got to use during my tenure as a systems analyst.
Needless to say, I went through a series of computers, and finally came to the point where I had a decent system (a 486DX/50 system with 1.2 Gb hard drive, 24 Mb of RAM, a 28,800 modem, and some nice software. Ha! But the operating systems sucked the big time, and I mean that literally. During this time I was a firm user of straight, old-fashioned MS DOS. I had tried a couple of other systems, like UNX, I had put Windows 3.0 on the system, and I wasn't happy with it. Most of the operating systems like UNIX and the Mac didn't appeal to me all that much, and I found it frustrating that I had to work in Windows, given that it was prone to crashing, it hung every so often because of the memory constraints, and other factors. Suffice it to say, I wasn't happy with DOS and Windows (and the various "improvements" made to Windows), and the Macintosh stuff was too cute (and expensive as heck at the time). And then I found OS/2.
I started with OS/2 v2.0 some six years ago, but went to DOS and Windows because it seemed like the right thing to do. Oh, sure, I kept my hand in with OS/2 (since at the time I thought that was the smart thing to do, being a programmer and all). But after all the system crashes, lost data (who backed things up? Programmers don't back up their systems, you should know that! <g>:), and other mishaps, I tried OS/2 v2.1 again - and lo, and behold, the system was terrific, the computer behaved fine, and I got the hang of the operating system no problem...
Unlike a few friends I know who deal primarily with hardware, and who love to play with hardware, my specialty is software. OS/2, in all of its incarnations, has some terrific software, some lovely features and all kinds of neat stuff. Sure, OS/2 isn't user-friendly like some of the other operating systems out there, in that it requires a different way of thinking at times (and the Mac users who read this page know *exactly* what I'm talking about). Sure, OS/2 requires the user to use their brains a bit (being user-friendly doesn't mean you have to be brain-dead, either)...sure, OS/2 has some problems running some of the latest Windows95 software... sure, OS/2 requires more RAM than you might want...sure, OS/2 has a few bugs here and there - but what operating system doesn't?
I went through the learning stages with OS/2 Warp v2.1, and then worked my up through Warp v3.0. This was heady stuff... No crashes of the system (once I got some of the configuration for my own system straightened out); true multi-tasking and multi-threading; drag-and-drop object technology; no reduction in speed when using more than three or four software applications at the same time; and other features that are too numerous to count. With the advent of Warp v4.0 (codenamed "Merlin" during its pre-release period), the OS/2 family of products has gotten better and better. There are additional features to OS/2 Warp v4.0 that make the product well-worth the full price, rather than just upgrading to the product.
And so, that's the point I'm at in my life right now with computers. I've opened a science fiction bookstore in the Ottawa area, called Basilisk Dreams Books, and the computer that I have at work is the same basic system that I had at home for the last few years. Different computer, actually, but similar setup and all. Since that time, I've graduated to a Pentium-166 equivalent at home, and now am able to use some of the functions of OS/2 that I couldn't use before. I have Warp on the computer at home, and don't really miss any of the Windows functions and the like that everyone hypes over and over, and with the advent of Windows95, well... need I say more?
Now, I guess it's also time to admit that I'm an OS/2 guru. I've done demos, I've done all manner of installations of the operating system on my own computer, on those of friends, on those of business associates, and the like... I like to think that if you're reading this page, you have an open mind about these things, so I guess the next step is to take you to the land of OS/2 Warp, and tell you a little bit more about that operating system...
So what are you waiting for? Go on to the OS/2 Warp page...
You can send me e-mail at jkahane@comnet.ca.