OCR Text |
Show 4 Signpost Tuesday, June 3, 1986 Guest editorial Harris computer substandard Editor's note: Nielsen is the supervisor of the computer lab located in the Technical Education Building. He is majoring in computer science and has worked with the Harris and various other computers for the past few years. by Brent Nielsen For the past 10 weeks, I have been gathering data and conducting experiments on the Harris computer system. The Signpost printed some articles on the Harris computing system last quarter, and many of the statements made concerning the computer were incorrect. Through many hours of digging and probing, I have founcLsome facts to contradict these statements. The students have a right to know what the Harris computer really is. These are the errors found: Incorrect Statment Reported: "In the rapidly changing world of technology, you can never make a computer decision that's right," said Dr. Robert B. Smith, WSC academic vice president. Findings: I disagree. Sure, there is going to be a newer and better model of computer out in six months. That doesn't mean you can't make a right decision on what to get now. It may seem like an impossible decision to someone untrained in the computer field, but a computer professional recognizes that things are going to. change and plans for the future. Reported: By purchasing the Harris, computing servies wanted to "meet the student demand, upgrade the computer, and wean other schools from using WSC's system." Findings: computing services did not meet the students' demand the students ere demanding a DEC system. Neither did Weber want to "wean other schools from using WSC's system." Those other colleges paid for the services they received. That money was pure profit. The system would have just sat idle if jobs had not been run for the other colleges. Harris Usage Reported: "Norman A, Wismer, director of computing services, said the Harris computer is used at various schools, such as UNLV and Utah State, and companies with no problems. 'People who have had exposure in other areas . . . don't have any trouble with the Harris . . . it's easy,' Wismer said." Findings: Students come to Weber to get exposure to computers. Maybe it is easy for someone who's worked on computers to learn the Harris, but a large percentage of the students have never used a computer before, or if they have it's been to play games. Besides, if the Harris computer is so easy, why do the Harris Corporation's software engineers use a DEC-20 to develop software instead of their own company's machine. It is true the U of U and USU have the Harris computer, but they can not be compared to Weber because they don't use it as their main academic computer. The U of U's Harris is owned by their chemistry departement (and it is rumored that they are going to sell it), and the USU Harris is used only for graduate astro-physics research. UNLV is the only other school in the nation I've found that uses the Harris as their main academic computer, and their students and faculty are not any more excited about their Harris than Weber's students and faculty. If Weber had a more common machine, we could share data and programs with (see HARRIS on page 5) IS A VIOLATION) rsPW'' Humor World Cup offers only 'world' competition by Scott Miller Contributing Writer Platini, Rummenigge, Rossi and Maradona do these names mean anything to you? Well, they should, since last Saturday was the opening day for the '86 World Cup in Mexico. Is the World Cup new to you also? Let's hope not, since just about every civilized country in the world with a soccer team strives to reach this international competition through qualifiyng rounds every four years. I realize the U.S. hasn't made it since about 1938. That's expected, because soccer never was and never will be popular in the U.S. That's evident with the folding of the North American Soccer League (NASL) two years ago. Why did it fold? Oh, lack of crowds, money, support, etc. What do expect for a league sporting a rule that requires at least six of the 1 1 team players on the field be North American born? Why is that? Because most of the stand-outs were foreigners who weren't good enough to play pro soccer at home. There are some exceptions: Pele, Beckenbauer, just to name a couple. By now, you've figured out at least what Rossi, Rummenigge, Platini and Maradona are. But who are they? Well, Rossi was the captain of the now-defending world champion Italian National Soccer team from the '82 World Cup in Spain. Rummenigge is the captain of the the German National Soccer team, runner-up to Italy in 1982. Platini, the French stand-out, captained France's national team to a European Cup championship in 1984. Some say he is the best in the world; others say it's the young Argentine stand-out Maradona who has been playing pro soccer since the age of 18. Now you know what the World Cup is and who some of the players are. So come on USA, let's get into a REAL world championship not a pseudo world championship found only in the United States, such as the "World Series" or the Super Bowl's "World Champion" and, of course, the NBA's "World Champion." Until the U.S. gets a REAL world champion, there's not much substance to the "world champion" Bears, Lakers and K.C. Royals. Letter Policy The Signpost welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be typed and should not exceed 400 words in length. The Signpost reserves the right to edit for reasons of space and libel and reserves the right to refuse to print any letter deemed inappropriate. Letters must include name, address and signature of writer. Deadlines for letters to the editor are Wednesdays at noon for Friday's editition and Fridays at noon for Tuesday's edition. |