Technology Woes
by Darren Ashby

Ah, the paperless office, the extra time you will have, new found productivity and creativity. All were promises of the computer as we entered the information age some 10 years ago. What has the computer done for you? Here are some of my latest brushes with technology.

Email, the Ultimate CYA Tool
Today as I answered email at work, I realized I receive about 2 new messages for every 5 I answer or delete.ı Thatıs on a good day.ı I receive numerous email messages from overseas. They come at night, like Santa, 20 - 50 at a time. This rate has been steadily increasing for the as long as I remember, and I donıt see an end in the near future. I suppose that explains why I have over 120 unread email messages with about 300 more just sitting in my in box. I donıt dare go on vacation, even a short one.ı I could rack up 200 messages easily. I calculate that in about a year I will never leave my office to do any real engineering, I will just answer email all day long.

What Happened to Quality?
Hereıs an alarming trend! While quality of many things, like cars and furniture, is going up the quality of items that use software is going down. I know this because I just got a new computer. And from that extensive sample I deduced the following: you canıt trust software at all.ı It isnıt garbage in, garbage out anymore, now itıs 4 hours of work on an article for you to read followed by a blue screen and a scan disk, and a document restore, all the while crossing my fingers and praying that it will work just this once, because I forgot to print a draft copy for insurance.

And if you think software is the only thing to blame, you are wrong.ı I bought an HP computer because I expected quality from them.ı But the ıuı key on my HP keyboard takes a good 2 seconds of pressing to register on the screen. Talk abot troble with toch typing.

Call Pest Control
This buggy behavior is not restricted to computers anymore. I have a cell phone that does some funky stuff every now and then like shutting down when I try to dial a number (but it works on most sunny days so I keep it). My MP3 player has a volume control that works only when it feels like it. Could go up could go down, who knows.

Paperless, Yeah Right :-)
That prediction was way off the mark. Now days you print out your document in innumerable different fonts and layouts just to see how it looks. And if you make a mistake, why use correction fluid, just print another one. Paper jam?ı Better print another. Oh no, spell check didnıt catch a word that was spelled right, but used in the wrong context, better print another.ı And then thereıs the printing necessary to ensure my articleıs not lost.ı It wasnıt until computers proliferated at work that we had to get 3 giant shredder boxes so we could recycle all the paper we were ısavingı by using our computers.

Donıt Get Me Wrong
I love technology... I am the proverbial gadget guy. I enjoy using all this stuff. But if I am beginning to get a little frustrated, what about the people who donıt particularly care for technology? They must be down right infuriated. I will go out on a limb and make two predictions.

Prediction #1
In the near future, we wonıt care as much about the speed of the processor as we will about the quality and crash-proofness of the system. Manufacturers will create some type of proof that this system is durable and will work right the first time... (I think there will be a decline in computer sales till this happens.)

Prediction #2
The public will demand that software companies take responsibility for their programs. This will be caused by a giant nationwide class action suit that will only be possible, ironically, due to computers and the Internet. (Basically we will finally get sick of computers crashing and losing our documents, so we will all sue Bill).

What Do You Think?
Am I off my rocker? Or, have you had similar experiences?

Recommended Link
The Illusion of Quality—Part 2: Computer Programs by EE Expert Hank Wallace

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