A couple of months ago my laptop became critically ill with an infectious virus that required the Geek Squad team to restore it to health. When I brought it in, they advised me that it would be $$$ to repair and that I might be better served applying that cost toward a new one because it was ancient in computer terms (6-7 years). The young crew found it almost incredible that I would want to get it back to its former state. For me, it was functional until the near lethal viral attack, although an overall upgrade – memory, processor, operating system, etc. would definitely make it more efficient. The kicker is that it would be more costly to get all the upgrades than it would be to purchase a new laptop. I decided to pay the fee to eliminate the infected files and use it to resume my daily grind of seeking employment.
The “old” laptop became my preferred alternative to my desktop, because the desktop became terribly slow in connecting to web sites and opening files, especially after I had to install the spam/spy ware software. Both computers are about the same age and operate on the Windows XP platform with the 3 subsequent service packs. The microprocessors on both units were not designed to manage the demands of today’s software and operations. After bouts of frustration over wasting time, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get a new laptop. My techy friends were right…it was time for a change. My decision as to what to purchase appears logical to me, and what follows is my train of thought.
When I was around 10 years old, my father occasionally took me to his workplace on weekends. He was computer programmer. I recall the card sorters and the large machines with what looked like reel-to-reel tape players, which were essentially the hard drives as we know them today. Each reel had a 20MB capacity.1 (For the younger set reading this blog – a reel-to-reel tape was the most robust tape format that could record and play music. Music was played or recorded on a machine that had two reels with a player that the tape went through moving the tape from one reel to the other. From the 1960’s – 1990’s you could find cassette and 8-track tapes as tape formats on a much smaller scale than what the reel-to-reels offered.) Back in the day the programmers would use another machine to punch holes in cards that corresponded to the language (COBOL, FORTRAN, etc.) the computer read. These cards would then be placed in a sorter and then fed into the computer, which provided instructions to perform a task requested by the programmer. Today, that is done in microseconds through built-in Intel processors and programming code.
My first personal computer was a Commodore 64. The OS language was MS-DOS where some software required you to know about MS-DOS commands and protocol for you to use it (C:/…). As time went on, I graduated to an IBM PC 386 operating system (OS). Within 3 months of that purchase the 486 OS came to the market. It was then I learned that new software was created only for the newest OS and old software either required upgrades to function or would not run at all on the newer systems. From there we had Windows 3.0/3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98 (the last version based on MS-DOS2), Windows 2000, Windows ME, Windows XP, Vista and now Windows 7.
In the mid 1990’s I was initially introduced to Apple computers in the workplace. I really liked the functionality and the user-friendly format much better than Microsoft version, but since the world outside of academia used Microsoft and there was rarely any compatibility between the two systems, I remained a conformist with the majority who used Windows. In November 2010, I purchased an iPad. It has become my mode for QUICKLY navigating through my email and accessing the WWW almost instantaneously after I enter my search. It is this toy that swayed me to explore the alternative to the standard bearer.
I am in awe of Bill Gates, Paul Allen and Steve Jobs for their genius in creating the templates that our technology runs. Both Microsoft and Apple have positive aspects to their products and as time has progressed Apple has worked hard to create compatibility bridges, whereas I can create, edit, or print the same Word document in both Mac and Windows domains. Using a pros and cons analysis I decided to go rogue and get the MacBook Pro laptop in lieu of a Microsoft based laptop.
Besides, I still have my slow and “old” Windows desktop as a backup, as well as the “old” laptop that is now archived and safely secured for future use if there is ever a system conflict with that which my future employer might be using. I am sure tomorrow, Microsoft will bring out a new version that will make my “oldie’s “ obsolete, and my MacBook Pro could possibly be the last one I’ll ever need to buy, as an article in Info World suggests.3 Technology is dynamic and regardless how hard I try, I doubt if I will ever get ahead of the curve of technological change, but the joy of discovering the many things a new product can do versus the old one is fun enough to encourage change.
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