In 1993, one could eavesdrop on 10-year-olds debating the merits
of 8-bit versus 16-bit Nintendo.6ex
[3] video game systems.
One wonders
whether those arguers had much understanding of register sizes, data bus
widths, and the technical merits and costs. It seems more likely
that the number 16 was considered to be twice as good as the number 8.
Long ago, one of the authors witnessed a marketing executive insisting he needed a 16-bit personal computer to do word processing, because an 8-bit PC simply would not do the job. When asked to explain, the depth of understanding of 8-bit versus 16-bit proved no different than that of your average 10-year old.
Why are computer customers concerned only with hardware specifications instead of actual delivered performance? Similarly, the megahertz rating is often cited as though it were a sure indicator of application speed. The point of this example is that end users have involved themselves in hardware choices that are only weakly correlated to their actual needs.