[DrJ]

Originally Posted by Oko

I thought that a desktop computer was a computer capable of running Web-browser, an email client, and an office suite + little bit of multimedia.

What exactly a desktop is has been discussed with some interest. The best I can tell is that a "desktop" is what people do with their own local CPU running their own local programs, and that this varies a *lot*. And that definition is not that clean either. Your definition fits more or less in the "Is Linux ready for the desktop" sort of threads, but I think it is insufficient.

You join this thread by arguing that any Unix based application is incapable of solving PDEs

Now be fair. I responded to the "Windows is a consumer OS" comment. The rest flowed from there, and I stressed workflow integration when irritations ran high.

P.S. By the way my grandfather was for 70 years ( he lived to be 87) producer
of fine Serbian wines and the plum brandy called Shljivovica. I do not recall
him ever needing a calculator let alone Desktop computer to manufacture those

I don't doubt that he made great wine. There is a long history and art in the business. The business has changed, though. Did he use yeasts classified by UC Davis or PSU? Everyone here does. Did he use drip irrigation? Did he have moisture sensors in the ground the meter water flow? Which vine pruning method did he use and why? Did he measure Brix, or did he do it by taste?

You would get a kick out of visiting Mondavi in Napa as an example of how the business has changed. Yes, they do produce good wines in addition to their better-known bulk ones. I don't think use of temperature-controlled, stainless-steel fermenters was common in the older days, but they are now. It is a pretty high tech business.

And yes, I know slivovic well. Quite a different product from wine, but quite enjoyable. I'm thinking of having a go at it from a very productive plum tree we have.