As a member of the Microsplerf Provider Outlet Geekfarm, I note with a certain … bad taste in my mouth the oncoming wave of Vista upgrades in our near(? who knows with M$?) future. Having seen the previews/promo crap, I have thoughts of becoming an unwashed hermit living under a bridge. Or possibly going back to basic clerical and pretending I have no knowledge of this thing called Winblows, excuse me, I need to answer the phone.
Already, the fun begins, in a conversation with Friend Who Moved Away via phone the other night.
FWMA: I hated Macs! I couldn’t figure out the Macs in the labs at school. blah blah blah confusing blah argh splutter.
Me: *thinking about all the ways Vista looks like Tiger* Uh huh.
FWMA: Remember when we took comp exams on them? I was so stressed out already! And then I clicked on something I thought would do blah, and it did bling, and I was all, AAAAH!
Me: *thinking about how I won’t want to answer the phone at Geekfarm ever again* Uh. huh. Tell you what - don’t ever get another computer.
FWMA: Whaaaaat?
Me: Use what you like - what you have right now, just the way it is. Transfer the hard drive to the next computer you get. Burn backups of it and keep them safe. Trust me. You’ll be happier.
Because people don’t like change. Think about how hard it is to give up something you like - soda, chocolate, ice cream - or start something new, like an exercise program. The litany, every time we read about another woman who’s spent a lifetime being abused, is “why doesn’t she leave?” Well, she doesn’t like change. That’s her normal. She’s going back to him because he’s the devil she knows. The next man might drink AND beat her AND beat the kids, not just beat her. We learn patterns of behavior and they stick like super glue. The effort to change eludes us — and in the case of domestic violence, it’s the effort to change, plus the economics of being deprived of money and freedom for so long, plus the realities of learned helplessness, of chronic low self esteem perpetuated by verbal putdowns, and of being convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that he WILL find her no matter what and kill her/the dog/the kids/her parents, which might actually be a real danger, plus the shame….
I think Windows is abusive. M$ is abusive. They’re the bully in the schoolyard, the fascist government with all the money and power, and the uneducated masses who think reinstalling every few months is normal just can’t find the right path to freedom. The guys at Geekfarm quote off hourly rates and I don’t doubt some people strapped for cash just go buy another $400 computer rather than fix the one they have, out of sheer frustration. The ones that do pony up the money keep right on using the software. There’ll be an update next week, which is the equivalent of flowers and gushing promises that it will never happen again baby, just come home…. And the cycle continues. Tension builds. The little signs begin — the occasional error message, having to ctrl-alt-delete to end a program that won’t respond, that one time the computer “can’t find system disk” and then it starts to happen more often, and before you know it, you hit a key out of desparation and the disk formats, and those six years of files are gone.
At which point you go to the PC shelter for crisis services, and the case manager has to call in a specialist to help you recover. You get the PC back all shiny and working, your data back in place, and it’s as if nothing ever happens. Until the tension builds, and the messages start…. For someone who relies on the computer for their livelihood, this is costly. You’re at the mercy of the whimsy of a capricious, uncaring, unpredictable creature that sometimes appears to like nothing better than torturing –
I really do need to find a job in my field, don’t I? I’m seeing pathology everywhere.
Bleh.
Don’t worry. I have a therapist.
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