Re: Linux vs ZX **
This is such a stupid argument. People using a ZX or Atari 800 or whatever may have dealt with the machine at a lower level and learned to program it - maybe even learned assembler, but the fact that a much lower percentage of computer users know how now is NOT a failing of today's PCs and a strength of the past. They had no choice back then, because they were about 0.0001% as useful as today's PCs and smartphones!
One could equally argue that being able to buy a 6502, Z80 or x86 CPU is a bad deal because back in the day you had to use a breadboard and wire circuits yourself. The 80s_coder guy has definitely chosen an apt name, but he should had grumpy_old_fart to his handle for truth in advertising!
Technology marches on, and making it easier to use computers as tools without being required to know how they work makes the world a better place. We don't need 7 billion assembly programmers, any more than everyone who drives a car should need to know how to maintain it let alone how to make the steel that is used to build a car.
Human progress is not based on everyone learning everything that was done before them - if you had to do that it would have already halted because DaVinci was probably the last guy who was at an expert level in most fields of science. 80_coder might be a whiz when it comes to computers, but I doubt he has a similar level of knowledge concerning biology for instance - and since we are biological organisms I'd argue that understanding biology at a low level is one hell of a lot more important than understanding Z80 assembler!
Biting the hand that feeds IT
