Our Technological Age

This is a rant of sorts against the many technological marvels of our time and how annoying they become when they malfunction.

My old Dell computer tower with the now obsolete and unsupported XP OS (assuming everyone knows the accronyms here) died on Wednesday. Yesterday I lovingly carried its body to the computer mortuary on Collins Avenue where it now sits and I wait to see if it can be resurrected or buried.

However, yesterday when I picked up my AT&T landline fone to call the computer shop, it had a deafening static buzzing on it. IDK if the two malfunctions are related or just coincidental.

Yesterday I was online using my old IBM Thinkpad, which was slower than dialup.



Today, I hooked up my newer Acer Aspire micro computer with the cute little toy keyboard that my large fingers are strugglinhg with to type this. But, with the much faster Net speed I ventured to contact AT&T online to report my errant fone. Unfortunately AT&T only maintains their Web service to sell you something as I found out when I got into chat.

Here is a paraphrase of that fiasco.

AT&T - How can I help you
Shale - My landline phone has loud static on it. I can make calls going out and receive calls but the static makes it unusable.
AT&T - I am sorry to hear you are having problems with your landline phone but we are only here to sell you something. However, I can direct you to a source that can assist you with your problem.
Shale - (who saw it coming) Fine as long as it is not a phone number because my phone has static on it.
AT&T - 1-800-288-2020

I actually called that number and could hear enuf thru the static to finally get a live tech person who repeated my fone # and got my address and may have someone come out to check the fone. He was aware of the problem because we were shouting thru the static. I gave him my cell # (which I do not want to use calling AT&T, wasting vauable minutes while on hold). IDK if or when they will show up, but I think my day off is pretty much wasted.

Hope to get good news about my computer today.
Don't ya love modern technology - when it is working.

Shale
</rant>

 

I'm using the 'obsolete' XP operating system to post here :2thumbsup: As long as it works it's all good

 

That's my problem. I really like my XP and plan to use it till I absolutely can't. If my Dell cannot be resurrected, I have another just like it with XP that my workiplace gave away and I will have it refurbished to replace the other one.

This Acer has Windows 7, tolerable but I don't like the new & "improved" solitaire game. Why can't techs just leave things alone?

 

do you get india people?....anytime we call our provider here (bell canada) we get either india or pakistan call centers and can barely even make out the broken engrish

 

Www.engrish.com

 

People in India who claim their name is Brian

I miss XP. I've still got my old dell latitude, but it just runs so slow and has so many issues I got a flash looking new PB. Can't say I particularly like windows 8.1 but it works ok.

To be honest, if I had the cash I'd buy a mac.

I plan to just use the dell as an offline machine.

 

windows 8.1 is supposed to be more stable, but the new GUI takes some getting used to the interface of previous versions.

i actually have a virtualbox VM on my laptop with windows XP installed on the virtual machine. i needed a windows xp machine just for a second to run some really old software of something that wouldn't run on anything else.

i want one of those oldschool style keyboards. they used to use individual mechanical switches for each key

 

I've adapted to it pretty rapidly, but still now and then find I can't do something I routinely used to do without stopping to think

What I've found annoying about it is the way it's kind of set up for dummies. Probably politically in correct to say that, but WTF. A lot of total crap comes with the factory installed OS.

That said, the new machine runs my dj soundcard much more smoothly, and that's good. And if I start up the old machine with XP it looks primitive. Like looking back on lost childhood almost.

 

They still make them... They aren't cheap though.

 

technically, i think the rant ended before your signature. unless signing posts was another aspect of technology that you were upset about.

 

How did it die? I've had my Dell now for 5+ years and it seemed die, but was salvageable.

 

Good news. Even tho my old Dell tower died, I had an identical spare one and they transplanted the old hard drive into it, so in a sense the heart of my computer lives on.

Spent the whole evening downgrading it. The computer guy put in Office 2007 and I uninstalled it and put in Office 2003 (Word has fewer whistles and bells and I do all the writing without the computer editing for me). Also upgrading it by going on Internet Explorer and downloading Mozilla Firefox. I have yet to install my Adobe foto editor and a video player program where I can do screen caps.

 

I like technological change. I wouldn't want a sluggish computer. I try to have a better spec' computer than I had before. That to me is the important part. With regards to operating systems, I have got along with whatever I have at the time. I don't really cling to a particular OS. If I had a real issue with say W7 and wanted XP, I know somebody somewhere felt the same, and Microsoft maybe even have accomdated for that. Such as XP mode.
Spending time downgrading ms word 2007 to 2003 seems quite petty to me.
The differences can't be that different.
But fine, do whatever you wish.

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/replace-terrible-windows-7-games-classic-xp/

 

There are nuances that someone who writes a lot notices. It is perhaps familiarity.

I am one of those writers who was sending stuff to publishers from a manual typewriter, double spaced on paper up to 1995. Then I finally got my first computer and started e-mailing articles like everyone else (except Ann Landers, who really was a dinosaur).

I guess you can say this is Shale roughing it


I have adjusted to new technology over the decades but usually a few years behind because I do get familiar with something that works for me and don't want to waste time adjusting to a newer version, which has no advantage to me. That I find annoying - so when I have the option I put in my disc and download Windows Office 2003.

BTW, one of the clues of technology failure was during these manual typewriter days when I sent an article to a local paper and found that in print my word "often" became "of 10." A human would not have transcribed that out of context but a computer would. I found out they had a machine that scanned my paper submission and turned it into digital text. It was all quite fascinating this brave new paperless world. Yet, I still have reams of printouts that I keep. Just waiting for the proper Solar Flare to scramble all the electrons.

 

I can appreciate the differences between a manual typewriter and a computer. That must have been quite the leap.
I can also appreciate wanting to stick to a MS Word you are comfortable with.
Maybe it seemed you were triumphantly downgrading from 2007 to 2003.
That might have seemed a little self indulgent.
Knowing how to downgrade MS Word seems a little more complicated than learning a few new features in MS Word
But what do I know?

I do know technology isn't perfect.
But I really wouldn't want to go backwards.
Perhaps forward a little more slowly

 

The biggest concern about using older software is that many virii and malware have been crafted to defeat any built-in defenses.
So using XP and the older versions of word, while maybe more familiar, you are essentially cruising the internet without a condom. Yes, Word is often used to deliver/activate malware.
That is one of the reasons Microsoft killed XP, it was not only old, but from a security standpoint, it is now Swiss cheese, riddled with holes.
Using XP mode will not protect you from those vulnerabilities either, but at least you can kill the virtual machine without saving any changes.

Sounds like Shale is clinging to the Luddite within.

 

ahhhhhh the good old days..

 

Thank you.

Looking at the economic situation of our day, perhaps having more workers working instead of being replaced by efficient machinery would be a good idea.

Eventually, with workers not working who do you suppose will buy the product of those efficient machines?