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• Friday, September 15, 2006 02:53 PM

  The problem can only be solved by Microsoft, go back to sleep!

  The problem can only be solved by Microsoft? Hey, convenient! As a parent all I have to do is write them grumpy letter and go back to sleep.

  If Microsoft doesn't choose to solve it, we are doomed, doomed, doomed because downloading is just completely unacceptable! Never mind that more than 12% of the population has already successfully taken on the unthinkably challenging task of downloading and installing Firefox instead of suffering with Internet Explorer. And they did that just to get something incrementally better. Not something they couldn't have at all otherwise, something their children need for school.

  Never mind that we're talking about kids - kids who are more than savvy enough to figure out how to download games!

  Must our response be limited to sternly-worded letters to Redmond? Must we discourage programmers who might otherwise be inclined to think about this problem and create an easy-as-Firefox download from bothering?

  Appealing to Bill Gates isn't the only way out of this one. A free BASIC interpreter that can do a little bit of graphics could be easily assembled from the existing free "Bywater BASIC" program and a little additional user-friendly glitz to help Windows users feel comfortable (yes, I understand that the installation must be made far more accessible). Schools could simply hand that out on CD, at no cost beyond duplication of the CD. Problem solved - this year, this month if folks are motivated, not in Vista 2.

  A last note: you mention the ability to put simple graphics on the screen. Those BASIC interpreters you remember were never a lingua franca, most programs didn't move from one brand to another well, and graphics were especially terrible that way. That Commodore 64 you mentioned doesn't even have "draw a dot here" BASIC commands, unless you use an optional, third-party cartridge.

  Of course, a lot of parents bought that cartridge. Even though it didn't come from the manufacturer.

  I do appreciate the underlying ideas in this article - thanks for kicking up the right storm at the right time.

  —Thomas Boutell
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