Working "in technology"

One thing about working "in technology" or "with computers" means that like any doctor in the family, people call me for free advice. My parents who are about as technically literate as a Masai tribesman. They are currently using a circa 2000 eMachines minitower machine. The thing is a dog. Runs like crap and is probably drowning in malware. They've finally decided to give up and get a new one. I suggested a laptop with a wireless card. My elder brother (who does not work "with computers" said that was a bad idea. According to him, printing is almost impossible with a laptop.

Rather than argue the point, I said, "that's fine, whatever you want to do." I must be getting better at this because my parents went laptop shopping the next day and showed me the two models they were looking at. One was a Dell and one HP. Both lower range machines but considering they read email, look at pictures of the kids and print the occasional word doc that's about all they need.

"I'm afraid this thing won't be compatible with school" said Mom.

"What does that mean, 'compatible with school'"?

"I mean, the one I have now, I can't open attachments that they email me."

"I have a hard time believing that."

"Well, I don't know how to do it."

"Much more plausible. What, specifically are you trying to do."

"Get a computer that's compatible with school."

"OK, does that mean going to school with your laptop and connecting to their network?"

"Oh no. They have computers there. I'm not going to bring this one to school. I just want to be able to change documents they send me and then send them back."

"OK, that's a very different question."

"But this is....Vista. We don't use Vista at school."

"Documents are not created in Vista. They're created in Word or Wordperfect or whatever."

"So what do I need."

"What version of Office do they use."

"I don't know. Nothing older than 2005."

"I'm going to need more information than that. The best I can suggest is that you get this machine and download OpenOffice. It will let you read and update documents. I don't know if you'll be able to change them again on the machines at school but you'll be able to make a one way trip."

"How much is that?"

"Free."

"They guy at the store told me it's $200 for Office."

"That's true which is why this is cheaper."

"I don't know how to use that."

I opened a sample doc and showed her that it looks just like Word. She seemed satisfied. She paused, thinking.

"So how do I know if his is compatible"

*sigh*


Second anecdote:

I have a friend who's a liar lawyer in NYC. He calls:

"Duffy, I need your help."

"Shoot."

"We have backups of our old email system and we need someone to go through them for a court case."

"Uh...Hmmm...that's not really what I do. What format?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, backed up on tape, CD, DVD, SAN? Is this MSExchange or what?"

"I'll call you back." Click.

12 minutes later

"Duffy"

"Yeah."

"It's on tape and it's Linux."

"Ok, what flavor."

"Flavor?"

"Yeah, Mandrake, Red Hat, Ubuntu, Debian, SUSE.."

"Shit." Click.

6 minutes later

"Duffy"

"Yes?"

"It's Red Hat."

"Sorry, don't Linux"



I start to laugh.

"You're a dick. Damnit. Who do you know that can do this?"

"Not too many people. I'll ask around. What's your timeframe?"

"Tuesday."

"Dude, do you know it's Friday at 5:30?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"I am not hopeful."

I asked around, no takers. They had to contract somebody locally. No word on what that cost.

It's amazing to me that people understand that not all doctors are surgeons and that lawyers even, have areas of practice. You wouldn't ask your probate lawyer to defend you in a criminal trial. Why are computers seen as one huge amorphous mass?

Comments

I don't know your parents, but if they're anything like my parents and grandparents why would you tell them to buy a laptop? With my parents, they'd need a monitor for their bad eyes, a printer connected up, and a mouse. At that point you might as well get a desktop. They wouldn't have moved it off their computer desk before, but they certainly won't now.
The Last Ephor said…
Largely b/c the modem is in the basement. It is a finished basement but they don't need to be going up/down the stairs anymore than necessary. Plus my Mom is adamant that computers are "ugly" and she's not going to have "that big ugly computer thing (armoire) in my living room."

Come to think of it, they have excellent eyesight for their age. Probably better than mine.

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