What does George R.R. Martin and Android have in common? - Page 2

=X= · 08-14-2011, 06:09 PM

he's not new to the web/technology, in the interview he mentions reading forums back since the 90's.

however there is a difference between if it isn't broke don't fix it. and refusing to change. i don't know maybe he's refusal to upgrade was the reason it took him ten years to finish his book.

TedJ · 08-14-2011, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

i don't know maybe he's refusal to upgrade was the reason it took him ten years to finish his book.

In all fairness, eight of those years were spent waiting for Wordstar to load, am I right?

DiapDealer · 08-14-2011, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedJ

In all fairness, eight of those years were spent waiting for Wordstar to load, am I right?

Ah, I see you've used it before!

carpetmojo · 08-15-2011, 04:45 AM

".............But he was also concerned that digital piracy might do to the book industry what it did to the music industry. "

Yes, wouldn't it be a terrible thing if saved the book industry like it seems to have saved the music industry...........

I also note the ebook of "...Dragons" is an eco-friendly, new-technology embracing £11-99, a massive £3-- less than the hardback.

Glad to see no-one's complaining about that...............

wodin · 08-15-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Considering that he writes his novels using Wordstar on a Commodore64 (and no, I'm not making that up at all), I doubt he uses an ereader.

I have fond memories of WordStar.

wodin · 08-15-2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The problem is the extra custom conversion process necessary to get it into a format that the publisher can even begin to work with.

WordStar to ascii text is a less than trivial conversion. But getting it off that 5 1/4 inch floppy disk might be a challenge.

DiapDealer · 08-15-2011, 01:43 PM

Quote:

WordStar to ascii text is a less than trivial conversion. But getting it off that 5 1/4 inch floppy disk might be a challenge.

Why on earth would anybody convert a source document for a novel into ascii text? You'd lose all formatting—italics, bolding, unicode characters, smart quotes.

The only reason I brought this (WordStar) up in the first place is that George's editor has been on record describing the walking cluster-f**k that his "word processor" of choice creates.

wodin · 08-15-2011, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Why on earth would anybody convert a source document for a novel into ascii text? You'd lose all formatting—italics, bolding, unicode characters, smart quotes.

The only reason I brought this (WordStar) up in the first place is that George's editor has been on record describing the walking cluster-f**k that his "word processor" of choice creates.

WordStar had THOSE? Who knew?

DiapDealer · 08-15-2011, 02:35 PM

Well it may not have supported unicode or smart-quotes, but that actually supports my theory that getting his source into a publisher-ready format (that certainly will require those features) is not a simple process.

=X= · 08-15-2011, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TedJ

In all fairness, eight of those years were spent waiting for Wordstar to load, am I right?

LOL that's it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wodin

I have fond memories of WordStar.

Hey what a coincidence I too have many memories of Wordstar, but my adjective uses a different four letter "f" word.

Back to the original post. In the blog I posted George has a picture of him holding an iRiver (google eReader) I wonder if he'll be using that reader.

One thing I do miss about physical books is the books stores I loved going to Borders/B&N buying a coffee and perusing books. But that is all really eBooks are just so much better than pBooks in every other way.

I belive once software continues to get better the old way of using books will disappear.

My son's school is starting to offer online text books or physical books. He opted for physical books but seriously debated getting online books.

=X=

ATimson · 08-16-2011, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Considering that he writes his novels using Wordstar on a Commodore64 (and no, I'm not making that up at all), I doubt he uses an ereader.

Yes, you're making it up. (WordStar, yes; C64, no. Hell, they didn't even make a C64 version of WordStar!)

DiapDealer · 08-16-2011, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Yes, you're making it up. (WordStar, yes; C64, no. Hell, they didn't even make a C64 version of WordStar!)

So sorry... DOS box vs C64. Yes, huge difference in terms of; "upgrade your workflow you goof!"

EDIT: Besides, WordStar at least had a shot at running on the C64 using the C64-CP/M-Cartridge.

ATimson · 08-16-2011, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

So sorry... DOS box vs C64. Yes, huge difference in terms of; "upgrade your workflow you goof!"

At least the DOS box you can pop out the floppy and put it into a modern Windows machine without much hassle. C64... not so much!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

EDIT: Besides, WordStar at least had a shot at running on the C64 using the C64-CP/M-Cartridge.

Interesting. I had no idea there was such a thing!

DiapDealer · 08-16-2011, 09:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATimson

At least the DOS box you can pop out the floppy and put it into a modern Windows machine without much hassle. C64... not so much!

They eventually got around to making a floppy-drive peripheral for the C64.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATimson

Interesting. I had no idea there was such a thing!

It was very short-lived, and was basically incompatible with, well... nearly everything.

ATimson · 08-16-2011, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

They eventually got around to making a floppy-drive peripheral for the C64.

3.5"? Or only 5.25" that you can't buy anymore? And FAT or some other format Windows can't read without a specialty program?

08-15-2011, 04:45 AM	#19
carpetmojo Wizard Posts: 3,117 Karma: 9269999 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: UK Device: Sony- T3, PRS650, 350, T1/2/3, Paperwhite, Fire 8.9,Samsung Tab S 10.5	Oh, hear hear ............. ".............But he was also concerned that digital piracy might do to the book industry what it did to the music industry. " Yes, wouldn't it be a terrible thing if saved the book industry like it seems to have saved the music industry........... I also note the ebook of "...Dragons" is an eco-friendly, new-technology embracing £11-99, a massive £3-- less than the hardback. Glad to see no-one's complaining about that...............

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08-14-2011, 06:09 PM	#16
=X= Wizard Posts: 3,671 Karma: 12205348 Join Date: Mar 2008 Device: Galaxy S, Nook w/CM7	he's not new to the web/technology, in the interview he mentions reading forums back since the 90's. however there is a difference between if it isn't broke don't fix it. and refusing to change. i don't know maybe he's refusal to upgrade was the reason it took him ten years to finish his book.

08-15-2011, 02:35 PM	#24
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,880 Karma: 207000000 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	Well it may not have supported unicode or smart-quotes, but that actually supports my theory that getting his source into a publisher-ready format (that certainly will require those features) is not a simple process.