Actually Digital Research DOS (DR DOS) introduced file/disk compression as part of their OS in the early/mid 80s, as well as some advanced memory utilization capabilities that made it easier to load some processes into Upper and High memory. I used those features in place of M$ DOS, until Win95 came out and took the world by storm. Sure, disk/file compression caused some performance delay, but I did get more data on the drives!
Now, the double-space or RAM doubler (whatever it was called) for RAM was a diferent story. I HATED that "solution". Everybody I knew who tried it had problems, and wanted me to fix it - without getting rid of their RAM doubler software (certainly that could not have caused the slow performance and instability issues)... I mean, they paid good money for that solution, so certainly it could not be the cause of their problems. Perhaps a virus crept in, eh? Anyone remember how Bubble Memory was going to take over the world in the mid/late 80s? And yes, those diskless workstations were going to cure all that ailed us. Idiots. I coined a saying long ago, after seeing so many of these miracle solutions had come out and died off young. "The slicker the brochure, the louder the claim, the more they beat their chest about it, the more likely it does not work." Time and again I heard folks exclaim about how terrific such and such product was the greatest things, usually folks who had a stake in it, knowing full well it was ineffective or outright had bugs. Anyone remember Quarterdeck and their Windows Registry Cleaner app? A tech support rep told me it was released with known defects (after it wiped out my Win95 registry) because they needed fresh cash. Yet the magazine ads were full of claims about it being the gets all, ends all, of all Windows utilities. Everybody needed one of those things! Ugghhh... Gil > -----Original Message----- > From: profoxtech-boun...@leafe.com > [mailto:profoxtech-boun...@leafe.com]on Behalf Of Geoff Flight > Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 6:07 PM > To: profoxt...@leafe.com > Subject: RE: SCSI drives and VFP data tables > > > Actually the computer industry is replete with 'wonderful > technologies' that > died soon after. Remember doublespace for drives? I also remember the huge > fanfare for diskless network computers and how within a few years > everybody > would have one and just load off the internet. > > -----Original Message----- > From: profox-boun...@leafe.com [mailto:profox-boun...@leafe.com] On Behalf > Of Michael Madigan > Sent: Wednesday, 28 January 2009 8:31 AM > To: ProFox Email List > Subject: RE: SCSI drives and VFP data tables > > I remember watching demos of those for document storage at an Army show. > Put all your drawings, CAD Designs, scanned files on them. They > didn't last > long at all in the market place as cheaper and bigger hard disks and CDs > became available. > > ************************************************* > 1/20/2013 Eviction Notice > > http://www.cafepress.com/rightwingmike/6169336 > > > --- On Tue, 1/27/09, Gil Hale <g...@gilhale.com> wrote: > > > From: Gil Hale <g...@gilhale.com> > > Subject: RE: SCSI drives and VFP data tables > > To: profox@leafe.com > > Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 4:21 PM > > I bet they sold a lot to government agencies, then abandoned > > support within > > a few months or years when it was obvious they were doomed > > to failure. I > > saw a lot of these high capcity optical drives being > > peddled to mid-sized > > businesses. The appeal was the huge capcity, I think just > > about 500Mg or so > > (!). One ad for these optical drives had an advertisement > > with a tag line > > stating, "Put a fork in it, hard drives are > > done!" Well, not so fast my > > friend, soon after higher capacity HDDs came out (up to a > > whopping 1Gb for a > > mere $800! I know, I bought one!). The "fork" > > ended up going into the > > writeable optical drives for all but specialty purposes > > (WORM for document > > archiving and short term storage). > > > > Gotta love progress... > > > > Gil > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: profoxtech-boun...@leafe.com > > > [mailto:profoxtech-boun...@leafe.com]on Behalf Of Jean > > Laeremans > > > Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 3:45 PM > > > To: profoxt...@leafe.com > > > Subject: Re: SCSI drives and VFP data tables > > > > > > > > > On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 6:02 PM, Gil Hale > > <g...@gilhale.com> wrote: > > > > > > Once upon a time - maybe they still exist - there was > > something > > > called video disks which boiled down to SCSI drives > > with the safety > > > disabled (they ran slower when they got hot) so they > > had a limited > > > lifespan .... (mostly IBM disks if i remember clearly) > > > > > > A+ > > > jml > > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: ProFox@leafe.com Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/ndbblhfmcdkpegpoiiapcehhbhab....@gilhale.com ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
