……of Computers!

And, sadly, this isn’t it! Now I’m no Computer Geek but I’ve always been relatively comfortable sat at a keyboard  (I blogged previously about my website building history) but I don’t think it’s ever been as bloody taxing as it is today.

Is there a reason for that? Well, yes, there is, and it’s the same fault as bedevils much else in the modern world. In a word – greed: that constant striving for growth, for a little extra profit, at the expense of both quality and service.

Now I have to be careful here: it’s all too easy to slip into old bastard mode, but things have undoubtedly changed significantly over what doesn’t amount to very many years.

For me, to find that Golden Age of Computers, I only have to turn the clock back to the turn of the millenia – 23 years – and the reason is simplicity itself, Back then computer programs (as they were called then – ‘apps’ is something new) were designed to do what the user wanted to do – not what the manufacturer wanted you to do. There was competition in the market place: if a product wasn’t as good as it possibly could be you jumped ship and bought a competitors product – would that philosophy was still in operation today – Microsoft, to name just one manuafacturer, would be a very different animal.

Each program came, on discs, in a box, and each box was bought from a Computer Store – rarely online. It was then yours, you owned it outright, it came with a hefty and comprehensive manual, and it would perform faultlessly for years – at no extra cost! If you didn’t want it any more you could even sell it! Compare that with todays offerings. Subscriptions are now the norm – pay annually, pay monthly, pay daily in time I suspect. It doesn’t matter what it is you’re trying to do – writing, graphics, accounting – the drain on your bank balance and the rise in your stress levels is relentless.

I wanted to burn CD some months back – I very nearly gave up. I downloaded a twenty year old program: it did the job faultlessly and effortlessly.

Facebook wasn’t even dreamt of back then but look how much it’s changed in the nineteen years of it’s existence. Truly ‘Social Media’ when it started it allowed you to communicate and share your experiences with your friends, all your friends. Now it is simply an online magazine peppered with advertisments and sponsored items. Your friends are limited to the dozen or so it’s ‘algorithm’ will allow to see your posts. Without wanting to appear too duplicitous I rarely even use it to advertise my paintings – the costs have gone up and the posts ‘reach’ has come down – it just isn’t worth it. Money, money, money!

I shall use it to post this. A dozen of you will see the post, two or three of you may even read it. Oy vey!

A massive thank you to those of you who have.

Pip, pip,

SB