If you ever wanted to see actual programmers tear their hair, just suggest a feature that already exists in their programs. The larger a feature set grows, the more likely it becomes that existing and useful features are forgotten or buried in the depths of the many program menus. WinOptimizer was originally advertised as the Swiss Army knife of Windows optimization tools but as with the real thing, people tend to forget about the many possibilities the program has to offer.
As children, we learn from adults. The dawn of the computer age brought a lot of change and reversed that role for many of us. Since I make a living off software and writing about software, I am a welcome guest in the homes of many elderly PC users. That's usually not a problem, they have taught me about the world some 30 years ago so I should gladly return the favor in today's world of computers. I should ...
But there are two mysterious phenomena that remain inexplicable to me. Two whimsical conditions that keep intelligent human beings from sending off an email or burning a CD...
We merely sought to purchase a small laptop computer in an electronics outlet but now we were critically eyed by the sales clerk. His vest, bearing the logo of his company, was way too big but he wore it proudly like a suit of armor.
Many of us gravely underestimate the system requirements of modern software. The laptop was supposed to be cheap, small, silent and with decent battery life, that much we figured out for ourselves. Now struck the hour of the salesman.
