Open Writing

My computer is very important to me. It’s my window on the world; my link with those who are important to me, and some that aren’t. When I worked in the corporate world it enabled my communications with business agents all over the globe, sometime when natural disasters knocked out all the telephones.

My computer also freed me from the mood swings, bad spelling, unexpected absences and inaccurate typing of secretaries. It was such a joy that when it was down I felt as though I had lost my right arm. I’d almost forgotten how to write manually, and the writing I was forced to do was close to being illegible.

In the almost thirty years that I have used a computer, the face it showed me has changed beyond all imagination. I started with what I think was a ten inch, black and white screen, and the operating system was DOS based. The transition from that to a colored screen was like magic at the time, even though the only colors were blue and white, and the sole type-face was the ugly Courier. The next leap forward to Windows 3.1 in four colors and a choice of type faces was nothing less than miraculous.

Since then, my screens have grown bigger and bigger, my computers faster and faster, and the operating systems more sophisticated and complex, though also more efficient and easier to use. But from the viewpoint of a user such as me, for all the advancements in the technology and the software, the differences between recent operating systems have seemed incremental.

From Windows 3.1, to 95 was a biggie, but to NT and finally XP, it wasn’t exactly a ho-hum experience each time, but the motivation to change had more to do with making sure I didn’t get left behind than thrill-seeking. It’s been my experience that if you don’t have the latest operating system, then the programs you load for word processing, photo managing etc. never quite work the way they should. But more and more, the “thrill factor” was missing. Perhaps I was simply getting blasé.

It seems as though Windows XP has been around since the flood, though I believe that it was actually introduced only 7 years ago. Despite quite large updates that put me through the agony and anxiety of installing them, the differences were almost imperceptible. Oh sure, the upgrades hardened the security against hackers, and eliminated some inadvertent program shut-downs, but I had not experienced these calamities, so who cared?

So it was with eager anticipation that I heard about Microsoft’s plan to introduce a new operating system that would rival Apple’s and hopefully enliven my jaundiced viewpoint. In retrospect I think Microsoft was premature in its announcement, because several years have passed between that announcement and the release of the system to non-business users in February 2007.

In the intervening period I had read articles offering glimpses of what might be in store, but also hints of development problems and caveats that suggested Vista, as it is now called, would not be the blockbuster we had been led to believe. My plan was to replace my computer coincidentally with the availability of Vista, so as the release date approached I became alternately optimistic and apprehensive about the experience.

At one point I seriously considered, for the first time, buying a Mac rather than a PC. The Apple computers are sexy and appealing, the displays exciting, and their operating system is without parallel I had been told, though I’d never worked with it. None of my arty friends and my wife’s colleagues in academe could understand why I would be the least bit diffident, and in the absence of a clear impression of Vista’s qualities I almost made the leap.

But then, when push came to shove, I just couldn’t turn my back on almost thirty years of growing old with the PC concept and the, love it or hate it, Windows operating system. In the end it became an easier decision due to a flood of new PC’s, monitors and peripherals in the stores. In the past year or two, computer manufacturers had seemed to be in a holding pattern, waiting for Vista. Now, as of the beginning of February 2007, the store shelves were bulging with exciting, new computer designs, and bigger and bigger monitors. I was convinced.

I left the store with a PC that could probably run a moon landing mission with breath to spare, and an LCD monitor that has a larger screen than most televisions I’ve owned. Feverishly, I hooked it up and waited with baited breath for my fist glimpse of Vista. And then there she was, promising more “wow” than probably my old heart could stand.
But like the early stages of many a love affair it wasn’t easy. Vista was so different from any other girl I’d known that I simply couldn’t get the measure of her. She was no pushover. Along with my new PC and monitor, I’d been talked into to buying some anti-virus software produced by Microsoft especially to protect my temptress. However, Vista was not persuaded and rejected the program.

I tried five times to effect an introduction, without success, so it was back to the store with my new PC under my arm. The first reaction of the techy in the store was “We’ve loaded dozens of PC’s with this software and never had a problem.” “Well then,” I responded with a smirk, “Perhaps you’d like to try it on mine.” An hour and a half later one very frustrated techy had to confess that he couldn’t load it.
In answer to my query as to the source of the problem, he told me that Vista’s built-in defenses couldn’t be penetrated. “You mean that software designed by Microsoft won’t work with a Microsoft designed operating system?” I was incredulous. So I left the store with an antivirus software package by another manufacturer that installed without a hitch.

I’m still in the early throws of my love affair, with all the ups and downs that go with that experience. Vista is a temptress and a siren, but so far I’ve managed to steer clear of the rocks.

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