"Seat-of-the-Pants" Computer Driving
by
Jim Phypers
Is there any other way? You're in a mess. You read the manual. You read the manual again. No help at all. You call "support". You're sure glad they have an "800" number, but you're not very fond of the kind of music you have to listen to on hold for 40 minutes. A young man finally comes on the line. (Your call really was important to them.) He is very sympathetic with you, but "would you mind waiting for a minute?" More of THAT music again. Finally, after a few more rounds of waiting, a supervisor comes on the line and sorts you out. Only what he tells you doesn't work.
You call your friends, the best PC gurus in the business. Everyone says something different. Or they say they don't have a clue what the trouble is, or they say they have never heard of "that" before. Now what? You go to the weekly meeting of the Computer Club where you ask questions and the experts tell you what the problem is. They really should check six-guns at the door. You ask your question, and it's a "shoot-out at the OK Corral". Nobody agrees.
Now
what?
Your computer probably won't catch fire no matter what you try. Try anything.
What do you have to loose? You may skid around a bit and crash occasionally
driving by the seat of your pants, but I guess it's the way computers were meant
to be driven.
(Copyright 1998 by
Jim Phypers)