Doherty Threshold For Amusement
Thinking about the Doherty Threshold via the brilliant Halt and Catch Fire (S01E04):
Today, we hit a milestone. When engineers measure the speed of a PC, they talk about something called the "Doherty Threshold of System Response Time."It sounds fancy, I know, but, basically what it means is when you ask your computer to do something and hit the enter key, if it answers you back in less than 400 milliseconds, just under half a second, then you will stay glued to that machine for hours.
Your eyes may glaze over, but your productivity will soar. You'll be transfixed, mesmerized. Even a slight deviation back to half a second response time will allow your attention to stray. You'll get up and do the dishes, pick up the remote, watch the game.
But under 400 milliseconds, ah, that's the sweet spot.
Well guess what? Our soon-to-be-Cardiff PC, though it looks ragtag now, just clocked in at 396 milliseconds. Once assembled it will not only be faster than other pcs on the market, it will also be addictive.
What's the Doherty Threshold of Amusement Response Time?
How long have you got before doing the dishes looks more appealing?