You know, once upon a time, the computer was designed to make life easier for all of us. When did the device start dictating life? We have become so deadened to the effect of the OS over our lives, the software publisher's 'decisions' regarding what happens next and how, that we don't even whine when we note software doing stuff that is sufficiently annoying if our children did it we'd make them stand in a corner. Tell me why I have to tolerate a Palm reset completely taking my handheld offline for a minute or so, or random software causing resets which hand and go nowhere? Why does my practice management software crash silently in the background all the time (and the vendor tell me all I have to do is upgrade, even though reports of upgraded users are 'more of the same?') Windows has been crashing around us for years and years and years, and still as Don points out, they have 75% of the market. The Vista pioneers are suffering from no-device drivers and other pains or compatibility issues. I open a brand new file dialogue box in Word and it still can't remember which directory I just opened moments before, it plows back to the same old darn directory every time. Outlook wants to tell me how many emails I have and I don't even run outlook. Yeah, there are lots of things I could do to fix things. I could read manuals. I could hire trainers. I could actually learn the software in detail. But, folks, I want to practice law, not be a computer programmer. I want to help my clients, not my vendors. I want to do what I want to do how I want to do it and not have the darn tools get in the way. There are times when I am convinced the Amish have it right. Yeah, I love my Treo, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hurl it at the wall once in a wall. I like my computers, but I also am glad my building's windows are sealed shut. Vista? TimeMatters 9? Agendus 12? Go AWAY! I have work to do! End rant. (Sorry folks, new to the list and 3rd rant this week. I'm not normally like this. Really, I'm not.) Harold
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