A couple of weeks ago, like it or not, I was given a new computer with a new operating system. I hate it. So far I haven’t discovered any new features that will make my work easier among the dozens that hinder it.
I am not just being a grumpy old person. This never used to happen. Long ago, when the personal computer was more akin to a hammer and chisel, an upgrade—hardware or software—really meant something. I would rush to acquire it and read the manual straight through, wild to learn all the ways in which my life was about to change. Imagine, children, a time before linked and automatically numbered footnotes. Before color monitors. Before portability.
Let’s reminisce:
—My first computer, a Mac, had a total memory of 128K. (Not a typo.) Floppy disks held 400K. We couldn’t switch back and forth between the word-processing program and the desktop by clicking with a mouse; we had to push a floppy disk in and out in order to make the switch. Each program (MacWrite, MacPaint, etc.) had its own disk, so of course we could use only one program at a time.
—Sound was limited and funky.
—Disks commonly got stuck in the machine; the fix was an unbent paperclip poked into the “ejection” hole.
—In word processing, Undo was a one-shot deal: that is, it worked only on the last action performed. Undoing something after a save? Forget it. I remember the trepidation involved in considering each save. The later invention of “multiple Undo” was one of the most thrilling technological advances I can recall in my history with word processing.
I know that computers and word processing had a history before I came to them in the 1980s; the elders used to speak of things like mainframes and punch cards. Given the pace of research and improvement, I suppose it was inevitable that at some point writers and copy editors would have all the features we need, but software sellers would be compelled to issue upgrades regardless.
Feel free to share your own memories and frustrations here. Meanwhile, if I find anything good about my new system, I’ll let you know.
You probably forgot to use the magical incantation for new operating systems. It involves waving a screwdriver over the screen and saying an incantation consisting entirely of four letter words. I share your frustration, recently it seems like every upgrade is better than the next.
Posted by: Allen Hartman | 09/16/2010 at 07:35 AM
Yes, I studied computers (data processing) when we used decks of punched cards. The first PC I bought was from Radio Shack, and it had 48K! To do a small spreadsheet, I had to do half of it, write that to a floppy disk, then do the other half... no color or images or anything like that...
Posted by: ummabdulla | 09/16/2010 at 07:44 AM
My first computer was a VIC20. I was about six or seven when my father bought it for us. I remember putting a cassette tape into a detachable cassette deck and painstakingly typing all the BASIC code for the tank game printed in the manual. It was hours of work for minutes of fun.
Posted by: dobie76 | 09/16/2010 at 08:30 AM
I am being beaten bloody by updates to iTunes. Make them stop!
And I still use Word 2002 because is already has more functions than I need and ever use. I will use it until they pry it out of my cold, bloody computer.
Posted by: Sophia Dembling | 09/16/2010 at 08:48 AM
I'm teaching a freshman composition class built around the idea of technology and its (often invisible) impact on modern life. In the first week of the semester, I presented our first assignment, which was an autobiography microtheme on acquiring technological literacy. In the lecture, I showed my students a picture of the first computer I ever used: an Apple IIe.
They stared at it for a minute, and then one of them said wonderingly, "how did you click things?" Another asked, "how slow was the internet on THAT?" Ah, youth.
Posted by: Lynn C | 09/16/2010 at 08:49 AM
Our first computer was a Franklin Ace with 64K of memory (an Apple knock off -we're talking mid-80s here). You printed by actually hooking it up to a typewriter. (Remember those?) When we got our 286 machine with a 24-pin dot matrix printer we thought we had achieved technological nirvana, until we added a 96K baud modem.
Posted by: Chris | 09/16/2010 at 09:35 AM
So, Carol, what's the new operating system? Mac OS or Windows?
Posted by: Jonathon | 09/16/2010 at 11:59 AM
Well, I didn't think it would be polite to say . . . but it's Windows 7. As I understand it, if I had an older browser, there would be fixes for some of the worst features, but unfortunately my browser is also up to the minute. --Carol
Posted by: Carol Saller | 09/16/2010 at 12:09 PM
Hi there, So, I've got one good thing about your predicament: Your new headache was at least *given* to you. You didn't have to pay for it ... !
Posted by: Julie VP | 09/16/2010 at 10:12 PM
oh yes i remember the paper clip in the hole! so funny. sometimes i do miss that first mac (1985), though.
Posted by: Susan Fine | 09/17/2010 at 05:30 AM
My first computer was a Commodore 64. I still have it and yeah it still works. But I think I'll stick with my laptop. lol
"the fix was an unbent paperclip poked into the “ejection” hole." lmao I remember this all too well.
Good Luck with the new system.
Posted by: Joelle | 09/17/2010 at 03:35 PM
Every new operating system is an endlessly deepening nightmare. Windows7 has made my writing twice the work it used to be, and updates are consistently downgrades (as is W7). As for the Itunes victim: ditto. Their upgrades caused irreparable damage until a friend suggested the obvious: "always click 'no' to Itunes upgrades."
Posted by: Steve | 09/18/2010 at 06:56 AM
My office just got Office 2010, but we're running it on WinXP, because our IT guys don't trust it. I went straight from Word 2000 (with ~10 years' worth of my own macros and customizations) to 2010, and yoicks! The IT guy who installed it included some kind of add-in that gives me an extra "ribbon" called "Menus", and this has been extremely helpful, since it (almost) replicates the 2000/2003 environment. I stay with that ribbon most of the time. I'm a bit slower than I was on 2000, but not as much as I feared.
Also, the Compare Docs feature is MUCH better and more useful than formerly.
The first computer I ever used was an Apple II in my elementary school's computer lab. (We were Early Adopters - we had a computer lab in 1983.) In high school, I used WP5.1 to do layout for the school newspaper. When I went away to university, I took with me a 1991 Toshiba 286 laptop, which weighed about 20 lb and had a tiny little monochrome screen...
Posted by: sylvia_rachel | 09/20/2010 at 08:58 AM
We were just talking about this minutes ago - updates! Tons of them constantly, phooey! Can't get my work done because everytime I open my computer...you must update blah blah blah.
And me too - I'd have to go to the office in the middle of the night to make sure the end of the month report was still running properly. Used that same paper clip too. Okay, so maybe things are better.
Came here looking for advice on my biggest weakness, writing passive sentences, ugh, and ended up on memory lane. Fun
Posted by: Tcollinske | 10/11/2010 at 04:27 PM