Monday, April 23, 2007

I Am Getting Old – Part Twelve

I am getting old because…Once again, this is probably not because of getting older but just something to write about. I recently bought a new computer and a printer. The gotcha is, as the salesperson kindly pointed out it was not his company but the printer manufacturer, a printer cable did not come with the printer. The cable had to be purchased separately. I should have remembered that from my IT days. Each time we bought printers, we had to by cables. You would think that since the cable is essential to operate the printer with the computer it would be included as an accessory.

At the time I bought the computer, the salesperson also told me that for the sum of $150.00 they would “setup the computer for me”. He indicated that Vista (Microsoft’s newest operating system) was hard to setup. They would “add the gadgets” to the desktop for me. Even after I told the salesperson what my job was for the past 20 years, he still said I would not be able to do the setup. I kindly told him, that I was pretty sure I could and I did. The setup process was so easy that even a person without any computer experience, could do it. The hardest part, even though there is some color-coding on the “wires”, is finding where to plug the monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, etc., into the back of the system unit. Once that has been accomplished, WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE JUMBLE OF CORDS? I have been thinking about how to invent something to solve this problem but have not come up with a feasible solution.

My other gripe about the computer is that MS Office Suite Software no longer comes with the computer. It too has to be purchased separately. Microsoft does allow the computer manufacturer to include MS Works. After I checked the price of the MS Office Suite, I decided that for the time being MS Works would, no pun intended, work for me. The student version of MS Office is 149.00 and the professional version is 399.00. As far as I am concerned, that is highway robbery. You would think that since Bill Gates and Microsoft are worth “billions”, he/they could at least give computer users a student version of MS Office. How much money does he need?

Other than these things I have written about, I really do like my new computer. My husband knows absolutely nothing about computers and he wants me to teach him. Even though I have taught classes about computers and software, I DO NOT WANT TO TEACH HIM. I would like to stay married to him so I keep putting him off. I am not sure how much longer I can avoid it. Oh well, I may suggest that he take lessons somewhere else and see how that is accepted. Until next time, so long for now.

2 comments:

RUTH said...

I had to teach myself how to use th computer. I've only had one for about 8 months and when it arrived the instructions were on a disc. The problem was...(you are allowed to laugh).. I didn't know how to turn it on in order to read the disc!!!!! To this day I've never been right through the disc.. no time (I'd rather have a book to refer to anyway). I have taught myself the best I can by many trials and LOTS of errors!

Jeni said...

Don't you love that - a printer that needs a cable to connect it and comes with out one! Same thing applies to an electric stove - you have to have the "pigtail" or electric power cord but it doesn't come with the stove - has to be ordered/purchased separately! Ridiculous, isn't it?
And how about microsoft software that was purchased just a couple years ago - get a new computer and it may not work with a new system even though you are using another microsoft product most of the time. Can we say "Rip-off" or how about "Monopoly?"