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PC 99

from Debasement Tapes by Tom Smith

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The original "On The PC" was written for WorldCon 1991, and was getting a lot long in the tooth. So, I upgraded it. In the ensuing years , things have exploded again. As of this writing, the standard CPUs are quad-cores, we're just getting the first Blu-Ray writers that don't cost an arm and a leg, virge and Voodoo don't even exist anymore -- and modern graphics cards usually have 1 GB of RAM (and up to 2 GB) -- and lots of people have 64-bit operating systems and 1 TB hard drives. I'm gonna stop worrying about the hardware.

By the way, the first two lines are exactly the same as in the original song, because user interfaces always looks misleadingly familiar at first.

lyrics

The source code is always cleaner on somebody else's drive,
You dream about each new upgrade without which you must survive,
You bought your computer last year, but that was your worst mistake,
'Cause now you want something faster, increase your frame rate for Quake.

On the PC, on the PC,
Who cares what you do, long as it's Voodoo, Virge and 3D?
The most sophisticated stuff in years
Is obsolete before your check clears,
Fit out your tower, WE NEED MORE POWER on the PC!

The IBM's too ephemeral, components don't work quite right,
The iMac is one big emerald, like transparent Kryptonite,
And off in the Myst of history, Amiga's dreams may come true,
But what it'll be like's a mystery -- except that its box will moo.
GATEWAY!?

That's a PC! And that's a PC,
That one, and this one, blink and you'll miss one, and that's the key.
Can you be this dumb? You're not so sure,
Acronyms and numbers all start to blur,
Let's try to slow down, get you the lowdown on the PC.

(Tune: "Kiss The Girl")
Yes, you want it, Look at it, you know you do,
Just a thousand bucks or two, it's all multitasking,
But you don't want to buy it, all its parts will fry, it's
Just a... Packard Bell.

The trackball is cacked, the mouse starts to grouse,
You ain't got the Paint Shop book in the house,
The inkjet is blinking, paper's escaped,
And Windows slows to a crawl.

You're losing your bytes like an aging shark,
The DVD-ROM shows only South Park,
The scanner is bland, the hard drive is charred,
And makes no sound at all....

Ahhhh, the PC, ah, the PC,
These days, it's forbidden to use software written too carefully,
If it's all the coolest toys you seek,
Simply buy a new computer each week,
The mighty are fallen, they're all web-crawlin', on the PC.

College is cheaper than playing Minesweeper on the PC.

Start loading, start waiting, we're all vegetating,
Try each new flavor of your best screen-saver,
I can't recall my old life at all before the PC.

credits

from Debasement Tapes, released May 25, 1999
Words: Tom Smith, after Howard Ashman
Music: "Under the Sea" by Alan Menken

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Tom Smith Ann Arbor

Weird Al with more books, JoCo with more jokes, Carlin with more Cthulhu. Since 1985, Tom Smith has been breaking hearts, minds, and laws of propriety and physics with his insane blend of sf/fantasy, Life With Computers, pop culture, politics, and puns. More than twenty albums later, he maintains the best is yet to come. ... more

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