I hate to say it, but computers really aren’t all that fun any more.
Not to be too much of a curmudgeon, but there was a time when getting a new computer was exciting. Moving from a Commodore 64 to a Macintosh SE was like entering a new world. And then the internet came along, and everything seemed even more exciting.
Now, you get a new computer, and it’s a slightly faster, slightly bigger hard drive version of the same damn box you had before. No new or innovative applications have emerged to use all this speed we love so much. Everything has a drab, Soviet-era feel to it. All cases were beige, until someone decided black was it – now everything’s black. Where’s the innovation? Where’s the fun?
I suppose a lot of it has to do with computers becoming commonplace commodities in American society, like TVs and toasters. When you can sell a million units at Best Buy like so much cordwood, creativity and innovation become unimportant.
Which is too bad.
The last time I bought a new computer was December 1997. Nothing has convinced me that its worthwhile to plunk down $1000-3000 more for a new model.
Black is so 1997. These days it’s aluminum and neon: http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/computing/cases-mods.shtml
Not to mention other colors: http://www.3dcool.com/?module=product&sku=HellSTORM-3000
The thing that keeps it from being fun any more is the hellacious amount of effort needed to migrate from one machine to another. All the aps that need to be reinstalled, reconfigured, reregistered. All the data files that need to be backed up and moved/archived. All the settings and cookies and favorites and customizations that are just plain gone. Yeah, it’s a nice chance to start over, but, damn, it’s getting to be as big a pain in the ass as moving a house.
If M$ would [insert obscene metaphor of choice regarding getting one’s act together], they’d realize that the best way to get people to upgrade is to make upgrading painless. I’ve yet to meet one person who says that an OS upgrade-in-place went off without major, crippling hitches, and that’s trivial compared to upgrading to a new box.
Feh.
Reinstalling apps is a pain, I agree. However one way to make your files and settings less painful to upgrade is to move them from the default locations in windows (my documents, etc) and place them on a different partition or drive. Then you can wipe the C drive and not have to worry about your pictures, mp3s, what have you.