Friday, February 02, 2007

Rise of the Machines

Ever offered to help out with something and then wished you hadn't?

I've spent the best part of a week helping to 'fix' a friend's computer. Initially, it looked as though it would be a simple case of swapping out a damaged hard drive for a fully-functioning one.

But this laborious quest has instead involved performing a Frankenstein treatment on two separate machine and installing three different operating systems.

The desired result, that my friend should end up with a basic machine for a six-year-old to play games on, has finally been reached.

It all seemed so much simpler back in the days of Windows 95 - you stuck the CD in, the operating system installed and that was you ready to go.

Now, with online registration of operating systems, Microsoft has really upped the ante in a bid to stamp out piracy.

Which all just makes me very glad that I chose to turn my back on being an IT professional and pursue my career in the media. I no longer have the patience to sit in front of a computer that won't work and attempt to solve its problems.

3 comments:

Jazz said...

I have a very basic relationship with computers. I can turn mine on, I can turn it off and I can do the CTRL-ALT-DELETE thing when it gets tempermental.

That's about the extent of it... and about as far as I want to go.

Tai said...

All that for a SIX year old!?!

When I was 6 I was lucky to get a stick.
AND I had to sharpen it myself.

Groanin' Jock said...

Jazz - Yeah, sometimes ignorance is bliss - and in computers, a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing!

Tai - When I was six, I was happy just playing with my He-Man and Star Wars toys. Although I did get my first computer, a ZX Spectrum, when I was about eight or nine.