Technostupidity

[urbpan]

I now have Gmail, which I'm sure will make my life richer and more fulfilling, once I'm able to use it. It seems that our computer, which seemed new and state of the art oh so recently, doesn't have the oomph. (these technical terms give me a headache.) Apparently, the solution is to buy a 140 dollar doodad that increases our computer's smarts. I'm not sure if we are jumping through this particular hoop because we use a Mac (which seems to be the computer equivalent of being a vegetarian: sure you feel better, but you can't get 90% of what everyone else is having), or if it's just part of the "put a couple hundred bucks into new computer crap" program that the computer industry is running. (Which, I assume, is borrowed from the very successful "automobile maintenance" scam that the car companies use to enslave us all.)

Consume for progress!!

Comments

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

That computer is 2 years old and wasn't even state-of-the-art when we got it (which is why it only cost $500)!

Poor ol' thing, I think it's doing remarkably well.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Wow, has it really been two years? I can't even remember the last time I changed the oil.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Actually, it might be 3 years since I've been working here for a while now.

Love it, don't hate it. It's really done a remarkable job!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I don't hate it, I just feel conspired against.
How different can a new type of email be, that the machine can't run it? (Don't answer that, I really don't want to know.)
"Look at this great new bread! Too bad it doesn't work in our toaster."

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

New software is always being written for internet browsers and the browsers are upgraded to keep up with that. I'm not sure what gmail is doing that it needs a new generation of browser.

Gmail is a beta-testing thing though, so it's not really surprising that they're writing it to only work with the newest browsers (and, in reality, they've covered like 6 different platforms which is more than other email sites bother to do).

So...um...yeah, you can't use a toaster for bagels!

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

A more eloquent apologist for technology there never was!

Thank goodness we have a toaster oven.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I'm a realist. :p

I guarantee you that if that machine was a pc, it would be in the garbage by now.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Alternatively, we could spend $745 and get this: http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=634116