In all that we have written about technology over the years, the computer sitting on the desk has been largely ignored. It is utilitarian. It does the job. Sort of.
But times change. Patience thins. We are less and less happy with how we are treated by those people at Microsoft. Just once we would like to do the screwing in this relationship. We have been the screwee for much too long.
The affair started in 1981 with the acquisition of that first IBM computer with a five-megabyte hard drive. Having tried the floppy disc version, the five-megabyte disc was impressive. You would hardly run out of space on that, we said. And, after all, when we included that snazzy impact printer, the cost was only $11,000. Who would not want to be the first on their block with that wonder.
And it ran on that easy Disc Operating System (DOS). The machine came with a popular word processing package with which we were already familiar. The version of Lotus 123 with it, came on a single five-inch diskette. That spreadsheet software took about a day to become familiar and it did many a revision on the business plan.
Here it is thirty years later and we now have a computer with gigabytes of main memory and storage that cost less than $600. It uses laser printers, a flat screen and surround-sound speakers and it connects to the world through the Internet at speeds in excess of five megabits per second.
So what is not to be happy?
Maybe we just feel ignored. Hewlett Packard, who sold us the computer and laser printer screwed us out of $90 the other day saying that they would fix our printer problem. The call centre failed and they would not give us our money back. Norton let me down, let in a stinky virus and disappeared. Checking with Microsoft, we find that that company is not responsible for anything.
We cleaned house and got the computer back on track but we lost a lot of time and records in the process. The treatment in some ways seemed more brutal than the disease. And yet it is the ongoing corruption of programs under Microsoft that was a major part of the problem. Checking with techies, we found out that one of the solutions recommended becomes a virus in itself as you are unable to lose it.
Despite a rigid regime to keep out problems from the Internet and well-meaning friends, the spoilers out there are always dreaming up new ways to attack and poison the well. There are solutions. One, of course, is to move to the less vulnerable product from Apple. At 15 per cent of the personal computer market, the hackers and virus writers do not feel the challenge. And you have used Macs before. So what if the keyboard lacks the feel of a real keyboard. So what if it feels like you are playing with dolls.
It is surprising how many people are singing us the siren song to switch to Apple. The song is attractive. The screen on the Mac is a thing of beauty. The ease of use is so tempting. If we have just one more thing go wrong with this damn PC…….
– 30 –
Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to [email protected]