by
Janis Patterson
I have been forced to cave. Again.
You all know that I am not only a techno-naif, but a techno-phobe. I wrote my
first books on a 1939 Smith-Corona portable typewriter. It was manual made
completely of metal and came in a case made of ¼ inch plywood. The whole thing was heavy
enough to make a dandy anchor and the only reason it was called it a portable
was because it was smaller and lighter and easier to move than the elephantine
office models. By the way, I still own it and always will. It was my father’s
in his youth, and he gave it to me the summer before I entered the fourth
grade. I treasure it.
As dependable as the old portable
is, however, computers are so much easier. Or at least, they’re supposed to be.
Don’t get me started on the continuous “upgrades” and “improvements” that have
been made. (Said in full sarcasm mode.) I don’t see why – when my work method
(putting one word after another and then saving the whole) has not changed
appreciably since the days of the old SC manual – every few years I should be
forced to lay out a lot of money and then spend time learning a lot of things I
don’t need to know simply because Gates et al want to force everyone in to giving them a few more millions. If the techies want all those new frills and fol-de-rals, fine; let them have them, but they shouldn't pull support from other systems preferred by many. To do so is nothing but greed in its purest and most hateful form. In my opinion
Word 2003 was the optimal word processing system. All the commands were on one
row and of a size that one could see without squinting, the design was crisp
and no-nonsense and easy to use, so naturally it could not be allowed to stay.
Of course I realize I am the oddest
creature, and probably a thorn (I hope!) in the side of computer designers.
Just because I pay for something and I am the one to use it, I feel I should
have it set up the way I want. I should not be constantly subjected to the
whims of some tech-crazy designer who changes and “improves” (sarcasm mode back
on in full spate) something just because he can – and can not only charge for
it, but force us to accept and pay for it.
I’ve written about how my beloved 15
year old Dell finally had to be replaced – it was on the now-unsupported XP
operating system, which was made unsafe to use on the ‘net. As a lot of my work
is done on the ‘net, I couldn’t put my work computer at risk, so I found (at a
price I could actually afford!) an almost new 17” Gateway through the good offices
of a friend. It was a love/hate relationship from the beginning, with the
emphasis on ‘hate’. It had Windows 7 and Word 2010, both systems that have
complicated things to a ridiculous degree. What took two clicks to accomplish in
03 now take seven or eight. The designs are fussy, the procedures arcane, the
negotiations around ‘networking’ ridiculous. ‘Networking’? What part of “personal”
computer don’t they understand? Still I was glad not to have to deal with the
much-maligned Windows 8, which I understood to be hideously complicated and
more like a cell phone than a computer. I prayed never to have anything to do
with such an unnecessary design.
Until we went to Egypt two months
ago. As this was a working trip, I bit the bullet and took along my computer.
My 17” laptop computer. I had a smaller ‘purse’ computer, but it was 5 years
old, had no virus protection and was starting to act wonky. Besides, I didn’t
know what off my computer I would need. (Turned out to be nothing, but that’s
with my 20/20 hindsight.) The purse computer weighed just a little over a pound
less than the big one, too, and I thought I could manage everything quite
easily.
I did manage everything… but not
easily. Despite the best and very physical efforts of Lufthansa airlines to force
me to put my computer and cameras in the luggage compartment for the flight from Hell I never let them
out of my hands, and that did terrible things to my shoulder and already
problematic back, causing problems that persist to this day. (They are getting
better, though – just not fast enough for me!)
So, when I saw a tablet on sale that
I could afford, I caved and bought it. It’s an ASUS, comes with its own
keyboard which makes a case when closed and the screen part can be removed to
make a traditional tablet. It also comes with Windows 8.1 – which is just as ugly
and uselessly trendy as I had feared – and I’m terrified of it. I spent most of
yesterday with my sainted software man at our local computer store as he set it
up in the way I prefer and drilled the basics of use into me.
The little tablet with keyboard
weighs less than two pounds, and will fit into most of my purses, to say
nothing of my traveling ‘office’ backpack. For that alone I will love it. I
still fear what will happen when it is deliberately made obsolete and once
again I and everyone else will have to pay for “new and improved” technology we
neither need nor want.
