Dufferdom
Kingdom of the Ordinary User

by David D. Uffer
a member of the Chicago Computer Society
From the January, 2007 issue of the I/O Port Newsletter

Hello folks. I’m Dave Uffer, retired in good order from the world of education, where I was a cog in a wheel that barely notices losing cogs. Now I can do more of what I like to do. One of those things is messing about with a PC. I use it for learning, getting and passing information, for communication, and just a bit for entertainment. I make no claims as any kind of expert. I’m an ordinary user with some experiences and views that may be of interest to others. I try to share them from time to time.

Word Processors

Over the years I have used plain text and PROFS for messaging, then for more wordage, composition, and records WordPerfect, WordStar, DisplayWrite, MultiMate, MS Word, and Ami Pro. They are not for the simple minded, but some are easier than others. Some are more challenging and useful. Some walk alongside you as you learn and grow along with you in subsequent versions. That’s the way I feel about WordPerfect, a friend and companion of many years, capable and patient with many features I’ve yet to explore. It is now in its 13th major (numbered) version. All versions are compatible, just one of the ways in which it has served me better than has been my experience with its major competitor, without “Perfect” in its name.

Of Mice, People, and Paranoia

The “mouse” pointing device was an early convenience, a means to change the point of attention more easily than by tedious scrolling with the underline cursor. It came into its own with the graphical user interface and gained more adherents. People were tickled by its usability and found it to be fun. The basic design was ingenious and stable, needing only occasional cleaning of little specks of crust from the clever rollers. It has been so for about 10 years, or into the last century as we old-timers might say. Some variants were developed with more or different button configurations, differing means of locomotion or connection. I can recall a pleasant 3-button Logitech mouse of great convenience for a CAD program of the era.

Then, less than a year ago, there seemed to me to be some strange movements. I joked that it was mousey wanderlust, hoping it would subside before the allusion grew stale. Nope. My mouse and its inexpensive replacements worked initially but were similarly afflicted with abrupt sidewards movements much greater than the occasional prior small ones. Ultimately, I bought a $15 new mouse. A Microsoft mouse prominently described on the box as their BASIC MOUSE, all I’d need or want. Wrong, it worked fine on basic ops. But I learned there or nearby of their fancier mice. Smoother movement, optical not mechanical drive, sideways scrolling, easily invoked magnification. Interesting; why should I continue to deprive myself?

So I got a new and better one with the soothing, elevating name of Optical Comfort Mouse 3000 for $30. Worked fine and still does. What had developed was that I had a need, tried other cheaper mice, then bought first one then two Microsoft mice. Clever marketing. Then the steadfast and reliable mouse on our other PC began worsening in a different, recent reluctant movement behavior, unheard of heretofore. Not fixable by any means known to me, it dragged and stalled. Of course I knew one likely solution, a new MS mouse. Fortunately, I got the last of the same model as above. They were being replaced by new and still fancier series from MS, cordless, laser connected.

Wait a minute. What’s happening here and why? And how? Faithful devices developing two kinds of corrupting condition in two time periods following a series of free Windows upgrades. How could that be? Super clever marketing? Sneaky sci fi? Evil enterprise? Hard to believe. Still, I wonder and suggest you be aware of this experience. You might let me know if it happens to you.

A Touch of Terminology

It turns out that what most of us like to call simply “computer programs” have a useful division into “applications” and “utilities”. Applications are what we use to do specific things. Utilities are a sort of set of servants to enable the applications to do their things. They work together smoothly. Usually.

License Agreements

One of the entertainments in loading a new program into your computer is the license agreement. I know, or know of, a few users who still read them. Reading them is an optional chore, like reading the small print on a product with big print claims you’ve decided to trust. A similar pleasure is half-listening on radio or TV to the rapid but required counter-claim cautions following the opening proclamations of better health now available to the user. Marketers of more general new conveniences or higher glories seem less bound by law or conscience and low ball or ignore the cautions.

Not so the makers of software. License agreements are a signal that the producer of the product is sincere. And worried. Worried enough to hire lawyers to make up and repair fences to protect them from other lawyers looking for holes. Reminds one of why there are so many lawyer jokes abroad in the land. But fewer than there are lawyers.

Some of them work for the makers of software, composing their proofs of sincerity, walling off their anxiety. One of the best agreement statements I’ve seen was while installing a pretty good application. At least 3, maybe 4 steady screens of legalese. [Mild compared to Buy.com’s 13 screens.] You’ve gotta laugh out loud at that. Another one had a 4-line-deep viewing slit for the agreement. The user was expected to scroll through all the conditions and speculations. Or maybe not. Maybe that was just a candid admission that the makers knew they needn’t use up screen space with trivia.

Of course that’s essential trivia, since it’s a required hurdle. You can pay the money but not use your purchase if you object to their narratives of what might possibly go wrong—for them. You can buy their software but you can’t use it until you lie a little, let them off the hook in case anything goes wrong in any way that alerts a legal mind to potential loss or profit (depending which side in a dispute). Correction above, rent their software, since as I understand it, the maker retains ownership. The user buys access and may use it any way he wants unless he can’t be cool and somehow displeases the maker.

Dave Uffer, originating in Colorado, has been an Illinois resident most of his adult life, so far, preferring to live in or near Chicago. He is a member of some standing & longevity and has attended meetings scattered around North Shore, West Suburban, and Downtown.

>blockquote> There is no restriction against any non-profit group using this article as long as it is kept in context with proper credit given the author. The Editorial Committee of the Association of Personal Computer User Groups (APCUG), an international organization of which this group is a member, brings this article to you.



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Tulsa Computer Society 01/01/2007
Don Singleton, President