I recently was forced to buy a new computer. Nowadays, it seems that when you get a new computer you get free, sixty-day trial, versions of the latest software. On this new computer I was given Microsoft Office. For over 30 years I have been struggling with each new advancement, from the BBC1, right up to the sophisticated versions that we’re getting at about half the price, and 40 times the complexity. I still only just write documents and letters, do the family budget, illustrate books on Photo Shop Elements, use my camera, and the Internet. My needs haven’t changed in all that time, but I now discovered, because a 60 day trial was over and my Word programme suddenly went walkabout that it had changed the whole format, it took away my menu bar, and when I started hunting I couldn’t believe all the complexity of what I was finding including something called ‘ Widows and Orphans’. It was something to do with the top and the bottom of the page, but what in the world do I need to know about that for? I know where the top and the bottom of the page are
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If we can’t persuade Microsoft and all the other manufacturers to keep it simple, stop upgrading us with downloads we don’t want, and sometimes accidentally allow to be installed, thus making our own software, to the likes of me, unintelligible. Then I think it is time that a new manufacturer comes onto the market with a very simple machine that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, doesn’t have to have up-to-date software, on the principle that the Navy extols, a sort of ‘if it was good enough for Nelson then its good enough for me’. I can’t really believe that I’m the only one with a home computer, not high-powered business, who just wants a stable piece of equipment, that I understand, that never changes, and has stood the test of time, at a reasonable price. Please! Someone out there open a factory and turn them out, you’ll make a fortune. Something about the level of a good quality 1995 model would be ideal.