Hi Bernard,
> Lots of people will now be buying new computers every two years who would not have been caught dead behind a computer keyboard a few years ago. <
I have to smile. I bought my 77-year-old Dad a WebTV unit two years ago, at a time when he never would have thought of using a PC, or even a STB equivalent.
After two years of "help desk" calls to me, mandatory "site visits" I've made on the spur of the moment, and emails.
Questions like "why can't I download JPEG" and "how come I can't open up the second part of this or that."
And "Geeeshushcrimson, why must I have a B-R-O-W-S-E-R ??"
Finally, I went out and bought him a 300 MHz Compaq for Christmas.
[Incidentally, when I look back on the majority of those help desk situations, it wasn't so much a lack of competence on his part, as it was frustration due to the limitations that characterize the WebTV model itself. On many occasions, the final resolution was "sorry 'bout that, Dad, but the unit just can't do that ...(always with the qualifier, Now.)]
On the very next day he sent out some final emails via his WebTV (which I intend reclaiming for den browsing myself if he can ever give it up for good) to his universe of 'net acquaintances and relatives from everywhere between Europe and Australia. They are now primed to go ahead and start sending those file types that heretofore could only be sent via snailmail.
Now he wants to know when Time Warner Cable is going to get off their duff and fire up cable modem. What's EDSEL?, he wanted to know, when I was describing ADSL (which I pronounce as adsil), since he fears that 56 k will not be fast enough for him in time, given his propensity for music and movie clip downloads he's already planning... and he wants to know if satellites will ever come into their own for Internet use.
Like I said, I have to smile.
Regards, Frank C.
ps - don't be surprised to see a Dominic V. Coluccio on the Last Mile and ADSL/G-Lite threads ;-) |
