[Leica] Fair enough

[dnygr at cshore.com (dnygr)]

Thanks for all the comments on my provocative posting regarding the price of 
progress.

I nodded in agreement, when one of you commented about the scent of 
nostalgia. I wouldn't argue with that.

I nodded in agreement when another detailed all the travail that went into 
writing papers in college. I remembered staying up all night trying to get 
seminar papers typed correctly in grad school. And yes, the sound of the 
typewriter was annoyance for roommates.

Likewise, I nodded agreement to the convenience of computers, of sending 
images and messages to friends over the internet. 

Unlike that writer, I bought only one typewriter, a Hermes with German 
script, which I still have and use on occasion. I wrote a letter a few 
months ago on it when the electricity went out and my Mac was useless. 

Word processing has been a great gift to all of us, but as a writing teacher 
at Yale, I did not think it made students better writers. I don't think it 
corrupted them, but good writing takes lots of work, just like good photos. 
Learning to print takes time and lots of effort, just as learning to use 
Photoshop well does.

In my posting, I just wanted to note that the progress we use has a price. 
While our old computers are still useable, it is hard to get new programs to 
run on them. Progress demands that we keep pace and that we adapt. As is so 
often noted, the only constant in life is change. 

And as one of you might point out, nostalgia glosses over the pitfalls of 
the past, such as changing typewriter ribbons, using white-out, cleaning 
keys, etc., etc., and doing all-nighters


Cheers--Doug Nygren 

 
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