Toasters toast. Refrigerators cool. Lamps illuminate. Appliances have always been built to do some specific job, but the personal computer is something new and strange: an appliance that has no particular, well- defined purpose. It can do just about anything. Most of us stick with our word processing, spreadsheeting, and data basing, but there are literally thousands of other things you can do with a PC. Here are just 20 of our favorites.
Perform surgery
Everything else has been simulated on computer, so it was only a matter of time until the desktop operating room came along. Life & Death ($35) and Life & Death II: The Brain ($50, IBM and compatibles only), both made by Software Toolworks (phone 415-883-3000), enable you to perform operations without the nuisance of going through medical school.
The hospital you work in is equipped with MRI, CT, and ultrasound and an assortment of knives, drills, and bone saws. Patients wheeled in may be suffering from anything from a migraine to a brain tumor. You make your diagnosis by probing the body until you hear an earsplitting shriek. If an operation is needed, you’re the only doctor on call.
If you’ve got a weak stomach, stick with video games where you stack blocks or play golf. The blood in Life & Death looks horrifyingly real, especially on high-resolution screens. A scalp makes a dreadful ripping sound when you open it. Just to make things interesting, your beeper may go off in the middle of an operation or the patient may go into premature ventricular contractions. The program fortunately has no malpractice subroutine. You’re bound to kill a few people, but with a little practice you’ll be drilling, draining, dissecting, and clipping aneurysms with the best of them.
