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I love
technology. Well, sort of. I guess I love the promise
of technology. The problem is I'm continually disappointed
by it. I think it's because the marketing people get
involved and their goal is a little different from that of
the engineers. And then there's the CEOs who have marketing
deadlines and force the engineers to stop making corrections
before the products are really ready for market.
So because I love the promise of technology, I buy into the
marketing. I try to wait until the second release of soft or
hardware so I'm just off the bleeding edge. But most of the
time that doesn't work. Ya see, when companies get started
on the next version, they know they have to add a new bunch
of bells and whistles. (I mean after all, this sales pitch
will just never be successful; "Same old software. But this
version actually works!") So the old broken stuff never
really gets fixed. You get the new, improved version with
even more broken stuff in it than the first one. And if
there's anything wrong with something (software, hardware, a
can opener), it's guaranteed I'll find it - usually in the
first few minutes!
I do understand that if companies don't sell their stuff,
they can't stay in business and keep paying the engineers.
It's just that when greed gets out of balance with the
quality (which is most of the time), we get poor products
and services. And that's where I get my name - The Tehcno
Grouch.
See those
creases between my eyes? They never go away even when I
smile. It's from all those times when the technology let me
down and I shouted, "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Can you guess how many
times that has to happen to make those creases permanent? I
can tell you, it's a lot!
My site and my column are devoted to all the crappy products
and services my friends and I have been subjected to that
have put those creases there. I'll give you the details and
name names. But I'll also give space to the guys who get it
right. You can probably guess that there won't be a whole
lot of those.
I guess that kind of makes me the Andy Rooney of technology.
(You gotta say this in Andy's high whiny voice.) "Didja ever
have one of those days...?" Well, I've had lots of 'em.
Maybe sharing the burden will lighten the load a little.
Ready? Here we go...
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