Recently, I have been having some trouble with my computer at work. A lot of trouble. It seems that the computer no longer lets me do the tasks that are part of my daily work responsibilities. Schedule meetings. Send emails. Open a word processing program. I blame the Cloud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was a girl, first you had to buy the hardware. Then, you bought a software program and you installed it on your machine. Once1<\/a><\/sup>It was supposed to be once. Licensing and all that.<\/span>. If there was an update, it asked you to install the update. You could say no. There was an illusion that you were \u201cin control\u201d of the configuration of your computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I went to college the fifth time2<\/a><\/sup>Yes, really the fifth of seven times I enrolled in higher education. Three degrees resulted from the seven adventures, so not a terrific average.<\/span>, I found the difference between computers and programs from when I was in high school was astounding. Suddenly, programs did what you wanted them to do. Mouses worked. Different platforms offered different specialties on what you could accomplish. There were interactive graphics3<\/a><\/sup>No touch screens yet.<\/span>. Scanning was a wonderful thing that let you capture pictures and notes forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I touched my first computer in 1973 playing games called Plato4<\/a><\/sup>If I recall correctly<\/span> and Hunt the Wumpus. As technology moves on5<\/a><\/sup>I can\u2019t say advances<\/span>, I have loved new features and resisted new features. That jump from what computers did in 1988, when I went to college the first time, and 1997, when I entered my first Engineering program was magical6<\/a><\/sup>Was that good?<\/span>. But nothing has concerned me, through the 49 years of watching technology seep into every aspect of my life, as much as the vector technology is taking now.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I started thinking about this because of my computer at work. My work computer, at my current place of employment, was never what I would call useful. When I started this job in 2016, it seemed my computer set up was going to be the most annoying thing about my job. They asked me if I wanted a Mac or a PC, so of course I said Mac7<\/a><\/sup>It is the same Macbook I am writing this on now.<\/span>. I wasn\u2019t a fool. But when I got to the office to start, it turned out that their IT department could not connect a Mac reliably to their shared drive system8<\/a><\/sup>I figured out why, but amazingly, the subcontracted IT services did not appreciate my troubleshooting. Go figure. And it is a whole other Letter understanding why they offered me a Mac when they were pretty sure it wouldn\u2019t work.<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organization switched IT providers, but nothing has gotten better9<\/a><\/sup>In fairness, it also didn\u2019t get worse.<\/span>. The newest fun is the one that made me stop, double take, and become concerned about what this new vector for technology means for all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a big suite of programs that are ubiquitous in business, school, and personal use10<\/a><\/sup>I am using one of the applications right now<\/span> that has transformed from 8 disks loaded into computer memory before installing the software to applications that are continually updated. Continuous \u201cimprovement\u201d. Always the newest thing. It is such an attractive thought \u2013 always up to date. Never wishing you had waited three months for the latest and greatest is available. Never miss an update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is an attractive concept. Personal Life Coaches help us strive for continual improvement emotionally, professionally, and physically. My stodgy mindset to reach a goal is so last century. Static versus dynamic as a goal offers the promise of the incremental change always leading to something better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet, for the last six months, I never know what my work computer is going to do when I turn it on. Will I be able to use the calendar program to schedule a meeting without crashing the whole system? Will the email, after I hit the send button, actually leave the outbox? How will I know? Will the ******** computer tell me if it did or did not complete these actions? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes. Herein lies the problem. The promise of technology11<\/a><\/sup>In my opinion<\/span> is to introduce determinism into my life. I flip a switch, the light comes on. Mostly. If it doesn\u2019t turn on, I have an algorithm to follow to fix the problem12<\/a><\/sup>Change the light bulb. If that doesn\u2019t work, check the breaker. If that doesn\u2019t work, check if power is out to the circuit. If that doesn\u2019t work, check that power is out to the house. If that doesn\u2019t work, check if the lamp is broken. Order of these steps may vary depending on the last failure case.<\/span>. When trying to get my computer to just WORK, I have checked and changed probably 17 different things to at least have a clue when my computer is working and when it is not13<\/a><\/sup>Not even failure messages are deterministic.<\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n