LIKE most retired people, Struwwelpeter had to teach himself the very most basic elements of using a computer.
It took some time before he could handle a few simple tasks but over the years he became more comfortable with his old Windows XP.
And then Microsoft announced they were withdrawing support from the XP – so he had to go and buy a very user-unfriendly and complicated Windows 7.
It’s going to take him years to learn enough of this damn thing to do even the basics. Does planned obsolescence have to be so brutal? And do Americans have to be so greedy?
In a report in today’s Business Times it is stated that this was done, although “XP still powers between 20% and 30% of all computers around the world. This is going to hit emerging markets and schools, where the needs are unsophisticated, and money is tight.”
Which is also going to mean that many small businesses and things like ATMs and police files will be wide-open to security breaches.
Damn it, if I was bright enough to learn how to work an Apple, I’d buy one!
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An interesting comment from Canadian cousin AMG:
Your story about John Glenn – “every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder”, brought to mind an interview I was watching on Sunday with a fellow by name of Elon Musk.
I am not sure how much you know about this S African exile from Pretoria Boys High. In case you don’t, briefly, he left SA at age 17 using his mother’s Canadian heritage to come to Canada, dropped out of Queen’s University here and went to the USA.
Started PayPal, which he sold to eBay for $1.5 billion, and then started the Tesla Motor company.
And also – to the point – a company called SpaceX that is contracted by NASA to deliver and retrieve loads from the international space station. His philosophy on that is, despite the fact that government funded organisations buy from the lowest bidder, they are still ridiculously expensive producers of goods.
And, after three spectacular failed rocket launches that nearly bankrupted him, the fourth succeeded and NASA gave him a 1.5 billion dollar contract to supply the space station – at a fraction of the cost of NASA doing so itself.
Now at the ripe old age of 42 he has set his sights on Mars. And transporting people in vacuum tubes like those old canisters that they used to use in Greatermans to get your invoice and change!
San Francisco to LA in 20 minutes. An incredibly interesting character, who is little known in SA.
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Sign over a gynaecologist’s office: “Dr Jones, at your cervix”
In a podiatrist’s office: “Time wounds all heels”
On a septic tank truck: “Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels”
At an optometrist’s office: “If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place”
On a plumber’s truck: “We repair what your husband fixed”
On another plumber’s truck: “Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.”
At a tyre shop in Milwaukee: “Invite us to your next blowout”
At a towing company: “We don’t charge an arm and a leg. We want tows”
On an electrician’s truck: “Let us remove your shorts”
In a non-smoking area: “If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action”
On a birthing room door: “Push. Push. Push.”
At a car dealership: “The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment”
Outside a muffler shop: “No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.”
In a veterinarian’s waiting room: “Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!”
At the electric company: “We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don’t, you will be.”
In a restaurant window: “Don’t stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up.”
In the front yard of a funeral home: “Drive carefully. We’ll wait.”
At a propane filling station: “Thank heaven for little grills.”
And don’t forget the sign at a Chicago radiator shop: “Best place in town to take a leak”
Sign on the back of another septic tank truck: “Caution – this truck is full of political promises”
