I didn’t want a new laptop for Christmas, asking for one stemmed from telltale signs my old one was close to death. Sickly laptop was my friend, we understood each other, communication was effortless. Despite my best efforts I knew she couldn’t hang on. Christmas morning arrived with a stranger I knew nothing about, 24 hours passed before opening a box that cemented my constant companion’s passing.
With palpable trepidation I find the power button on new laptop, a moment later Cortana introduces herself.
Stop talking Cortana, I’m trying to remember passwords! An hour later Cortana assures me I’m ready to go. Ready my ass! Everything I hold dear is gone. Would it kill Microsoft to include a Windows 10 users manual in this box of irrelevant dribble? What good is a diagram of ports in 37 languages if I can’t find a way to import my photographs? Argh!
notestoponder 
It is like this, isn’t it! I couldn’t bring myself to toss out my first PC. It felt wrong to do so, she and I had been through so much together.
Precisely! Technology doesn’t advance, it finds ways to puff itself up without a smidgeon of empathy for what paved the way for its success. I could weep, but Cortana wouldn’t understand.
Just a thought …
🙂
I started with a 128k Apple Macintosh. It had a mouse when everyone else was laboriously typing in lengthy commands that had to be letter-perfect (or else~!). Commands like “LOAD:/C/ etc etc etc” into the far far distance.
In Scotland I abandoned a course by professionals (it was a long way to go travel every day anyway) who’d never heard of mice, and who quite simply didn’t believe me when I told them about the user-friendliness of the Apple Mac and its systems.
Then one Bill Gates came up with what I believe a blatant copy of the Mac system, and with much better marketing (and an inferior product) conquered the world.
But Apple isn’t fautless, and when an Operating System update blew away a lot of my historical stuff I simply stopped updating. So I guess that eventually this dodo
Luddite will be forced to update and “get with it” but I dread that day … good luck!
The miracle that is Bill Gates…
I got my laptop about 8 years ago, and it took me a whole year to configure Vista (yeah, I know) to run as I wanted it to, not as some genius in Seattle wanted it to
By the way, you get a mention on my blog on Saturday
Since 1983 I have ventured 3 times into non-Apple space. I started with a 4mhz Kaypro, a Windows desktop and a laptop & the remainder of my computing life has been populated with Apple & NeXt. Every migration to something new has been problematic but I give the Apple barrel due props for making transitions relatively easy. 18 months ago I added an iPad but my fingers don’t like mobile keyboards. Still, moving from my iphone to iPad to my 2013 mac laptop is amazingly seamless. But that laptop is acting up and I fear I need to gaze into my computing crystal ball for something new. Like cars which trends I pay zero attention to until I need a replacement, I hate the idea of changing even IF they say it’s going to be easy cuz different is still different. Bah Humbug.