Stupid farging computers

I am a computer programmer by profession. As a result, I think people assume that I like computers.

I hate them. Sometimes.

Computers are stupid. I think that is what I find most frustrating about them, because people always assume computers are intelligent, people always assume that the programs running on them are intelligent, and… well…. ARGH!!

I have spent this morning, since 8:30 AM, trying to rebuild my brother-in-law's IBM TouchPad. (One of the other assumptions people also make is that, because I am a computer programmer, I know more than they do about how to install software and load drivers, which, other than understanding the plumbing better, is not necessarily true.) This stupid laptop has taken right up until now to get going. Windows had no driver for the kind of external CD-ROM he had. I had to go online, long distance, and Google the driver. Since the driver was designed to take every last byte of a 1.44 HD floppy disk, I had to go through about three disks to find one without bad sectors, that would accept the driver install (which would probably have been a lot smaller if it had not been bloated up with InstallShield.)

After that, I tried to install his Kodak EasyShare. It told me that I needed Internet Exploder 5.01. I went searching through the cottage looking for disks. I had an old Microsoft SiteBuilder disk which said it had Internet Explorer on it. It didn't - it just had a lot of hype (disguised as technical articles) about XML technologies in IE5. I found an MSDN CD, but it had an even older version of IE5 than the one that was on the laptop. (I've ditched IE for FireFox myself, but third party applications seem to need it a lot of the time.)

I gave up, and went to install his WordPerfect 2000, and that went fine. Then, after scouring the cottage again for ISP coaster CDs, I tried again with EasyShare. It warned me about the IE 5.01, but let me get through it.

I'm going swimming. It is a calming activity, and one that, if I go now, will help keep at least one IBM laptop from going for a swim instead. ;-)