Old technology is comforting, somewhat. When you’ve spent hours and hours learning as much as you can about some operating system, Windows for example, damned if they don’t change it to a newer, faster, better (for who?) version. That’s the price of adopting or embracing technology; it’s always changing.
Here at Computers Made Simple, we’ve got a stack of new tech to get acquainted with. First, we picked up a couple of Blackberry Playbooks. They’re the same outside but one has 16 gigs of storage and the other one has 32 gigs. Then we bought a new smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy Q. The service provider for the Samsung has an excellent deal right now, unlimited everything for $30.00 a month. How can you beat that?
All of this came on the heels of us just getting used to our old technology. Even though our iPods and older cell phones were not as large or advanced as the new stuff, they felt comfortable in our hands and we were able to access their various features without even looking at them. Now, we’re back to square one.
What does this have to do with you? Well, besides reviewing our new purchases now and then, we’re wondering what questions you have about new technology. Seeing as how Windows 8 looks like it will bomb, maybe you’re considering Linux as an alternative. Or, have you given up on the Windows systems entirely and moved on to Apple? What did you find were the major differences? Now that Macs have viruses, maybe there isn’t too much of a difference between Apple and Microsoft anymore. Let us know.
Speaking of Linux, we’ve used it before. Way back to the times when Corel Corporation (remember them?) produced a version of Linux and distributed it for free. Believe it or not, that version was the smoothest we’ve ever used, although it did take a long time to download it via our 56K modem. Most of you probably don’t even remember what modems were, right? This all goes back to the topic of this post. Sure, the 56K modems were slow but they were relatively easy to figure out. No worries about routers or DSL/cable modems, nothing like that. But they were slow. Embracing new tech meant a fairly steep learning curve but it also had benefits; faster speed, the ability to use the landline at the same time as the Internet, things like that. The benefits far outweighed the difficulty of learning about the new technology.
Sometimes people go on too long with their old computers. One of our readers was stuck on Windows XP. He hadn’t adopted anything new for years. Yes, he still accessed the Internet via a modem and an old fourteen inch CRT monitor sat in front of him while he worked. This was a man who had been using a DOS computer long before Windows was invented. Sure, he’d been an early adopter of that technology but, maybe because it served his purposes, he hadn’t bothered to change with the times. When he decided to move to Windows 7 and a new laptop, well the curve was just about impossible for him to navigate. Only now, months later, is he at all comfortable with his computing experience. The lesson here is that you have to keep up with the times or you may find yourself relegated to the Dark Ages of computing.
What’s up in your life? Is Facebook giving you trouble? Is your hardware old and in need of an upgrade? Let us know which part of your technology is giving you a headache and we’ll try to sort it out for you.
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