On 01/11/2017 11:54 AM, Chris Fala via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Dave, I agree with you. However, what can be done to make serious software eye-catching? I personally am thrilled to look at spreadsheets all day (well, maybe not thrilled), but I think that kind of thing would not grab the attention of the average person. I think we have had similar discussions here: how do we present our hobby in such a way to draw people in and help them appreciate it the way that we do?
I think many people will be drawn in by their own curiosity about history. That's why people walk into museums. The Smithsonian doesn't have a guy outside trying to drag people in to play a game of "catch" with an animated dinosaur skeleton. I agree that a lot of "serious software" can be boring to some people. So they'll walk by and head over to the table of personal computers with games running. There were real working physicists at the last VCF at which I exhibited. Two of them spent some time with my PDP-11s. They probably walked right by the Commodore 64s. That's the great thing about VCF...there's something for everyone. I personally didn't care that most of the kids and spouses weren't interested in my PDP-11s...but I loved the fact that the physicists were. I think it's a very bad idea to reduce it to "something for the kids" when it's currently "something for everyone". -Dave -- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA