I suppose I only have myself to blame. I've finally browbeaten the jobbing incompetents in our IT department at work into giving me a new computer. Last time I asked for a new hardware, I was given a retread. It battled manfully for a few months before wilting. I did tell the spotty herberts that I use massive databases and spreadsheets, so a 486 will no longer cut it. I suspect, however, they think that anyone who wears a suit to work in genetically unable to work complicated software.
So on Friday afternoon my new laptop arrived. The customer service began and ended with its being delivered. I plumbed it in and I had to configure all the software and hardware. In no other field would such shoddy after-sales service be allowed. If M&S handed you four yards of pinstripe and a reel of cotton in lieu of an actual suit when you swiped your debit card, you'd feel rightly hard done by. For IT slatterns, though, it's par for course.
So I've had to spent all day configuring this and that, and it's still not right. The misery of new hardware is compounded by Microsoft taking to opportunity of (ahem) upgrading you while they're at it. So I've got a new version of Office. I've resisted this for as look as I could - not because I'm a Luddite, but because it's shit. Yes, it is. How is it progress when you now need two keystrokes where previously one was sufficient? I contend that this is not progress.
I can't abide being cast as the clichéd grumpy naysayer at times like this. I embrace progress and innovation. But I also have the keen eye of the child in The Emperor's New Clothes. I know bullshit when I spy it. I should do; I sit with the marketing department. One's moral compass takes a pounding when you get too close to marketing professionals, but it does heighten one's nose for bluster, fanny and/or flannel. And Microsoft has been dining out on B, F & F for a quite some time now.
Bill, you've enough money. If the mortgage isn't paid yet, that's your lookout. Gertcha.
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