My PC has appendicitis

by Sean McGrath

September 21, 2007 —

I remember learning at school that the human appendix does not do anything. It used to apparently[1]. Something to do with cellulose digestion. We humans do not chow down on cellulose much any more. Not since we stopped roaming the prairies in our loincloths and chewing on the switchgrass.

It recently struck me that the years have not been kind to all parts of what is known as a PC. If you use a PC, then there are likely bits of it that could disappear tomorrow morning without adversely affecting its performance. Things that used to serve a useful purpose but do not serve any purpose today.

Perhaps the most visible "appendix" (to use that term very metaphorically) are the function keys F1 to F12 that span most keyboards in a straight line across the top. With the possible exception of the F1 key, all mine have a faint layer of dust on their surfaces indicating that they have not been pressed in some considerable time.

Around the back, my machine boasts a parallel printer port. Those approaching or passed their silver anniversary of computing with PCs will most likely refer to this particular appendix as a "Centronics port"[2].

On the side of my PC is a mouse connector. Legions of PC users refer to these as "PS/2 connections" without passing much heed of the "PS/2" part - except perhaps to confuse it with a popular games console. This soon-to-be-an-appendix item dates back to 1987[3] and an entire PC transplant that IBM attempted in the form of Personal System/2. Come to think of it, the 3.5-inch floppy disk that IBM introduced in those systems is on the verge of complete disappearance. Many PCs these days don't even have drive bays for floppies.

How about the analog telephone line modem connection? I have stopped using mine completely. How long before this reaches appendix status too? Not long I suspect.

How long before some designer guru gets tired of all this unused stuff and proposes a radical re-working of this venerable but ancient design know as "the PC"?

[1] http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/zoo00/zoo00015.htm

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centronics

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_System/2

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