Eudora checking for emails how often? On Windows 3.1?
On Call Remember when you wanted to be contactable at all times? No, neither do we. The subject of today’s OnCall, however, was the kind of aspiring departmental head who was hellbent on impressing the bosses, no matter what he broke in the process. The tale comes courtsey of « Keith », a Data Systems Technician for the US Navy, who told us he was « officially trained as a combat computer repair technician ». He also considered himself a bit of a hobbyist where PCs were concerned. He had been stationed at a Naval Research facility, the last duty station before his retirement, and while the majority of the facility’s population were blessed with bachelor degrees or higher qualifications, Keith lacked one, having not been too interested in academia but possessed of « an avid curiosity about hardware (all kinds) with a special interest in computers and programming ». The job was an easy one, with little to do until the warm embrace of retirement beckoned. Keith’s story took place sometime between 1993 and 1996. The official desktop computers were either Sun boxes or Intel 386-based PCs running Windows 3.1. Windows 95 was also being evaluated and some machinery running IBM’s OS/2 were sprinkled into the mix. The (new for the time) network could just about manage speeds of 1Mb/s. Our tale, however, concerns email running on that bastion of stability: Windows 3.
