Technology

So, I bought a new computer. I don't know why I bothered. Technology is so far behind human evolution, it's sad. I think with as many geeks squirrelled away in musty cubicles, technology, especially computers, should be way ahead of where it is.

Take this new laptop. It's pretty nice. Thousand bucks, so it's not top of the line, but it works, which, i suppose was a good start. Then of course, because I don't have a PhD in computer geekery, I had to spend an hour on the phone to Xtra (who were very helpful, I must say, given their obviously limited resources) @configuring@ the broadband. And did you notice the @ symbol instead of the " symbol? That's because while my new laptop is very pretty and by and large works very fast and very well, the Shift 2 button, which on every other computer in the Western world is the @ symbol, is in fact the " symbol. Despite there being a @ picture above the 2. And when I push the Shift " button, I get a @. WTF?

Technology. Jeez.

So after my hour phone call with "Mark" from Manila (probably) and another 20 minute call to Xtra to learn that I had to reset the modem, I went to bed frustrated as hell. I had already spent 18 hours the night before waiting for the battery to fully charge before I could touch the machine. So another night passed with very little progress on the new computer.

Then the real fun begins. Transferring stuff and loading software. Good grief. Doesn't that sound pathetic. Transfer files - Word documents, pictures, favourites, email contacts and files. I'm not even going to think about the music. I'll just have to hope my MP3 player doesn't die, which given the state of technology, it probably will at some point. Soon.

Load the software for Digital Recorder, Mobile modem, Office 2003 because the demo 2007 on this machine will self-destruct after 25 opens, then I'll be liable for who knows how many more hundreds of dollars to upgrade. Then, probably the most important of my little gadgets, my PDA. Won't load. Not compatible with Vista. You're kidding me! What? OMG!

So Jackie gets all pro-active and gets a good deal on a new PDA. Software won't load and is probably not compatible with Vista.

This is exactly the reason I wanted a new laptop with XP on it, but of course there aren't many of them around any more. Fucking Bill Gates and his monopoly!

So now I am PDA-less - well, okay I have to sync my PDA with the home desktop and transfer with a flashdrive the files I'll be editing on the PDA. Small hassle I guess, but a hassle nonetheless. Until I can spring for a better new PDA, no doubt more several hundreds of dollars.

And I still can't fix the @ " mix-up on my keyboard. Oh, and the hash button is a £ sign and I cant find the hash button anywhere. So I hope in the next few years of using this computer I don't need the hash symbol.

Why can't computers be like the ones on Star Trek?

You sit down in front of it, tell it what to do, and it does it. "Computer, load everything from that computer onto this one, only make it better." And it's done a millisecond later. i guess in these antiquated times I would settle for having to plug a cord between the two computers, but even that's antiquated. How many cords do we need? Power cable, in two sections, with that big box thing that heats up; USB cables for Africa; sync and power cables for the PDA which is now useless; ethernet cable for modem (even though it's "wireless"), more power cables for each device and probably a few more USB cables (printer, camera, MP3 player).

Flashdrives are now like floppy disks were, and then CDs. They lay around and you never know whats on them because at least floppys and DCs had spaces on them to write what's on them.

Why in the 21st Century are things so antiquated?

And don't get me started on the Internet. It's just as antiquated and cumbersome as the technology it demands to use it. Is it pretty much used only for games and porn now? Oh, and blogging of course.

I don't know whay I bother.