New Operating System Blues

Computer users  know the feeling of being in front of a machine that ought to do what you tell it to but the machine is absolutely so dumb that it doesn't understand what you are telling it to do.

A person needs to upgrade. Old systems become incompatible with the web and with other people's systems.  Even if you are not particularly interested in keeping up with latest developments, sooner or later for often unforeseen reasons, almost every one I know has to deal with it.  I refer to ( dun dun dunnnn) the dreaded new operating system. Some people are dragged kicking and screaming, some meekly go along, some suffer in silence and some love to update. There are even those who will take the time to read the instructions. But new operating systems are inevitable for us all.

Plus with a new operating system, there are clever new ways of doing things that will make the user a thousand times more productive if only they would read the instructions. These instructions are written by people who are not skilled communicators. These young folk work in environments designed to make them feel good, Google and Yahoo offices or other such places. The design of the workplace of the coders and developers does not help the user understand which (darned) button to push to get the thing to work. The instructions of technical writers are comprehensible to 20 percent of the people who read them, tops. Little thought is given to the other 80%. If the writer is recently graduated from an ESL class, the instructions may be impossible. I don't usually read the instructions.

Our children have been raised in environments that encourage pushing every button in sight and seeing what happens. People over the age of 50 have the image of the President with his hand on the button that starts a nuclear war embedded in their subconscious somewhere near our brain stems and autonomous nervous systems. Older folk simply do not trust blind button pushing.

These button pushing young folk look down on quaint notions that if a device doesn't work, you take it to the repair shop and get it fixed. Or maybe they don't know about repair shops, since repair shops are mighty rare these days.



Sometimes, you just have to upgrade and I can't blame you if you don't like it. Getting comfortable with a technology can be hazardous when a new development comes along and we all have to grade. No wonder we have no time, so much keeping-up we have to do. No time to get cranky with the younger generation when we need them to show us which button to push (even though the world is going to hell in a hand basket, as those over 30 know).

I wish I knew of a solution. Feeling helpless and frustrated is dues person pays for getting to use the fabulous new machines, I guess. Sometimes I like to fancy that the old typewriter is on the old desk in my old office, but don't tell anybody about that fantasy, especially my children.