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editor's
notebook
What's
wrong with the Internet? Computers
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By
Ray Barrington
Dotcom Editor
I suppose
it was this way when the automobile first became popular.
"It'll never really take off," someone must have said, "until
they get rid of that crank and make them easy to use."
Radio? Try tuning your old Atwater Kent.
TV? Cable users have forgotten the joy of playing with a rabbit-ears
antenna for hours to get just the right picture.
The typewriter? Boy, all those keys sorta stick together,
don't they.
It'll never be popular until....
Granted, computers are popular. They can also be the most
frustrating contraptions on this planet.
I have an automobile, and I have a computer. In both cases,
it will take at least three visits to the garage/repair shop
before either is repaired.
The first is the "it worked fine for us" visit.
The second is the "we tried this, so it should work now" visit.
The third is when it gets fixed.
At least with a car, you have some idea where the problem
might be. With a computer? Unless you are a true techie, forget
it. Even then it may not help.
A recent server problem found a techie and me reformatting
hard drives, replacing cards, running disk-fix programs more
times than any human should, all without success.
The average family user wants something that can be taken
out of the box, plugged in, and used. In short, the simple
computer.
The iMac comes close, but it is as prone to crashing as any
other Mac.
PCs? Windows - of any year - can be flakier than the Kellogg's
factory.
Give me a computer that is easy to learn, will not crash if
you look at it funny and requires as little setup as your
average TV, and I will give you a fast boost in Internet usage.
Ray Barrington is the editor of Dot Com. Send love letters,
story ideas but not spam to [email protected].
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