Is Microsoft and AOL really doing their job?
by Tim Newell · in General Discussion · 04/29/2002 (2:12 pm) · 8 replies
What you are about to read is the horror of one man's experience on windows XP for the first time. The name's where changed to protect the innocent. This story has been titled:
"The Newbie"
Spock sees the note popup on his start button "Click here to begin". Excited, he clicks there but then is left stuck as he does not know what he was beginning. He sits and waits... Spock overwhelmed by all of the options before him he panics and clicks away closing the start menu... He stares back and the button to see the note again. He Panics. What does he do? Sweat is dripping from his brow...does he click it again? Will there be something there to guide him this time? He clicks and waits freightened of the future... Spock again goes to close out the list...but some courage from somewhere comes back into him and he remembers the helpful commercials on tv. "Where do you want to go today?" Spock understands. It's his decision now but what decision does he make? He peers at the options before him. Internet Explorer. INTERNET EXPLORER! Spock knows nothing about exploring and heard that the internet was a dangerous "web." Spock, really hating spiders goes on looking. He then sees below that, Outlook Express. Someone is looking out for him! Spock quickly opens it. He is greated by no one just a prompt wanting him to sign up for mail. This is no "outlook" wanting to help me out quickly, just a dumb "virtual" post office. Spock loves using those fancy geek terms, He wish he knew more. Spock notices the Help and Support option. He is saved, surely something there will help him... Spock gets to the next step, sweat dripping, then he realizes the horror. Even more Options!!! Spock panics and immediately quits. Spock goes back as the note beckons him even more. He looks at the All Programs option. It looks like an advanced feature but Spock doesn't care...he does what he was been afraid to do before..he plunges in. Spock, totally overwhelmed by the number of options available falls backwards out of his chair. Spock knew it was an advanced setting but never knew the horror could be so real... Spock slowly gets back up and approaches the screen...He sees an option labeled Windows Messenger. Finally! a messenger can deliver his message for him...he shall not worry anymore..he clicks ahead like a brave knight riding into danger. Much to Spock's suprise it wants him to login with a username and password. Spock panics. Spock fumbles for his login password and username the nice man at circuit city provided with his compaq. Invalid password! What does this mean? Spock tries the username and password the nice people at AOL gave him.... Spock waits for the "You've got mail" to know that he is logged in. Invalid Password again. He shakes and looks around nervously not knowing what to do next. He then sees, Sign up for MSN passport to access Windows Messenger. Spock then realizes the problem. This messenger is foreign and Spock needs a passport! Spock hopes the person speaks english. Spock goes through the options and makes his way into messenger. Spock then can't seem to do anything...It says he has no friends. HOW does this messenger know these things!!!!!!!!!! Spock, afraid of this spyware thing he saw on CNN that eats your identity, he quickly cuts the PC off and huddles in a corner staring at it and rocking back in forth...
Spock then realizes that he doesn't have to take this from some fancy technology. He has friends at compaq willing to help him. He looks up the tech support line and phones in. "Hello, welcome to compaq tech support. How many I help you?" Spock responds with, You have to help me I don't understand the problem with my compaq computer. "Which computer do you have and are you in windows right now?" Spock, not sure what to say, goes blank for a moment. He remembers his co workers talking about their windows 97 machines but doesn't remember a 97 involved with his...then he remember the XP. Spock then replies, Sir, I have a windows XP computer and it is currently turned off. "Ok sir, please turn it back on." Spock does and I confronted with options he has never seen before "Normal Mode", "Safe Mode"??? What do I pick he thinks. Safe mode has to be the correct choice as he wants to play things that way. "Sir, what exactly is your problem?" Spock panics as he sees his screen come up with terrible colors and writing all over the screen" He then proceeds to tell the tech support line about the horrible colors. "Sir it sounds like your graphics card drivers are corrupt. I need you to get out your compaq restore disk so that we can reinstall them." Spock follows the tech support's instructions reboots back and is no longer confronted with the safe mode option. Spock sees the welcome screen and smiles. His colors are fixed. "Sir, if that is all then Id like you to write this number down and use it any other time that you call. 4E347821Q234556y78997643DFR56778995343DES234567678W34325643323" Spock stops the tech support operator...wait..thats not all. "What else do you need sir?" My orginal question is what do I do? "Excuse me sir?" What do I do with my computer..I clicked the "Star here to begin" start button but was overwhelmed and paniced." "You little b******* I'm gonna catch you one of these days!!!" Tech support hangs up. Spock is completely shocked. Spock unplugs the computer and starts packing it up, the entire time muttering "Get online. surf the web. So easy no wonder its number one" Spock decides that he will wait until he is comfortable to purchase another PC and decides to send the PC back to compaq disgusted at them hanging up on him.
-Tim aka Spock
"The Newbie"
Spock sees the note popup on his start button "Click here to begin". Excited, he clicks there but then is left stuck as he does not know what he was beginning. He sits and waits... Spock overwhelmed by all of the options before him he panics and clicks away closing the start menu... He stares back and the button to see the note again. He Panics. What does he do? Sweat is dripping from his brow...does he click it again? Will there be something there to guide him this time? He clicks and waits freightened of the future... Spock again goes to close out the list...but some courage from somewhere comes back into him and he remembers the helpful commercials on tv. "Where do you want to go today?" Spock understands. It's his decision now but what decision does he make? He peers at the options before him. Internet Explorer. INTERNET EXPLORER! Spock knows nothing about exploring and heard that the internet was a dangerous "web." Spock, really hating spiders goes on looking. He then sees below that, Outlook Express. Someone is looking out for him! Spock quickly opens it. He is greated by no one just a prompt wanting him to sign up for mail. This is no "outlook" wanting to help me out quickly, just a dumb "virtual" post office. Spock loves using those fancy geek terms, He wish he knew more. Spock notices the Help and Support option. He is saved, surely something there will help him... Spock gets to the next step, sweat dripping, then he realizes the horror. Even more Options!!! Spock panics and immediately quits. Spock goes back as the note beckons him even more. He looks at the All Programs option. It looks like an advanced feature but Spock doesn't care...he does what he was been afraid to do before..he plunges in. Spock, totally overwhelmed by the number of options available falls backwards out of his chair. Spock knew it was an advanced setting but never knew the horror could be so real... Spock slowly gets back up and approaches the screen...He sees an option labeled Windows Messenger. Finally! a messenger can deliver his message for him...he shall not worry anymore..he clicks ahead like a brave knight riding into danger. Much to Spock's suprise it wants him to login with a username and password. Spock panics. Spock fumbles for his login password and username the nice man at circuit city provided with his compaq. Invalid password! What does this mean? Spock tries the username and password the nice people at AOL gave him.... Spock waits for the "You've got mail" to know that he is logged in. Invalid Password again. He shakes and looks around nervously not knowing what to do next. He then sees, Sign up for MSN passport to access Windows Messenger. Spock then realizes the problem. This messenger is foreign and Spock needs a passport! Spock hopes the person speaks english. Spock goes through the options and makes his way into messenger. Spock then can't seem to do anything...It says he has no friends. HOW does this messenger know these things!!!!!!!!!! Spock, afraid of this spyware thing he saw on CNN that eats your identity, he quickly cuts the PC off and huddles in a corner staring at it and rocking back in forth...
Spock then realizes that he doesn't have to take this from some fancy technology. He has friends at compaq willing to help him. He looks up the tech support line and phones in. "Hello, welcome to compaq tech support. How many I help you?" Spock responds with, You have to help me I don't understand the problem with my compaq computer. "Which computer do you have and are you in windows right now?" Spock, not sure what to say, goes blank for a moment. He remembers his co workers talking about their windows 97 machines but doesn't remember a 97 involved with his...then he remember the XP. Spock then replies, Sir, I have a windows XP computer and it is currently turned off. "Ok sir, please turn it back on." Spock does and I confronted with options he has never seen before "Normal Mode", "Safe Mode"??? What do I pick he thinks. Safe mode has to be the correct choice as he wants to play things that way. "Sir, what exactly is your problem?" Spock panics as he sees his screen come up with terrible colors and writing all over the screen" He then proceeds to tell the tech support line about the horrible colors. "Sir it sounds like your graphics card drivers are corrupt. I need you to get out your compaq restore disk so that we can reinstall them." Spock follows the tech support's instructions reboots back and is no longer confronted with the safe mode option. Spock sees the welcome screen and smiles. His colors are fixed. "Sir, if that is all then Id like you to write this number down and use it any other time that you call. 4E347821Q234556y78997643DFR56778995343DES234567678W34325643323" Spock stops the tech support operator...wait..thats not all. "What else do you need sir?" My orginal question is what do I do? "Excuse me sir?" What do I do with my computer..I clicked the "Star here to begin" start button but was overwhelmed and paniced." "You little b******* I'm gonna catch you one of these days!!!" Tech support hangs up. Spock is completely shocked. Spock unplugs the computer and starts packing it up, the entire time muttering "Get online. surf the web. So easy no wonder its number one" Spock decides that he will wait until he is comfortable to purchase another PC and decides to send the PC back to compaq disgusted at them hanging up on him.
-Tim aka Spock
#2
Deer Hunter
The Sims
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Monopoly
and, of course, some Star Trek game. Fortunately, I've been able to purge my mind of their names, altho I think one was called 'Elite Force'.
04/29/2002 (3:18 pm)
And when this man finally learns a little more about his computer, and that you can play games on it, he will buy one or more of the following:Deer Hunter
The Sims
Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Monopoly
and, of course, some Star Trek game. Fortunately, I've been able to purge my mind of their names, altho I think one was called 'Elite Force'.
#3
And the really depressing thing is that I have a copy of Deer Hunter 2 (I didn't buy it, someone gave it to me... I suppose I should've burnt it, but it fills out my CD rack a little more) ;)
Computers aren't that easy to use for the uninitiated, but they're getting better... Remember DOS? Remember someone new to computers _trying_ to do something with that? ;)
04/29/2002 (4:13 pm)
Brings back all those memories of the first time I ever used a computer...And the really depressing thing is that I have a copy of Deer Hunter 2 (I didn't buy it, someone gave it to me... I suppose I should've burnt it, but it fills out my CD rack a little more) ;)
Computers aren't that easy to use for the uninitiated, but they're getting better... Remember DOS? Remember someone new to computers _trying_ to do something with that? ;)
#4
With DOS most non-users didn't know what format was and didn't know the commands. With Windows its like double click My Computer right click C:, ooh format what does that do?(true story) Or if they start learning, Regedit.exe what's this do?(also true)
Training a new computer user with Windows is like babysitting a two year old running loose in an ammunition factory.
04/29/2002 (7:36 pm)
But at least the newbies were too scared to try anything with DOS. With windows 95 on up it gets way to easy for them to start poking around with things they shouldn't. The Windows motto should be: "How do you want to make tech support miserable today?"With DOS most non-users didn't know what format was and didn't know the commands. With Windows its like double click My Computer right click C:, ooh format what does that do?(true story) Or if they start learning, Regedit.exe what's this do?(also true)
Training a new computer user with Windows is like babysitting a two year old running loose in an ammunition factory.
#6
During the first couple of months I did screw up the computer quite a few times. The computer came with dos disks, but the windows disks were actually in image form on the hard drive, so after the first screw up I had to live with dos for a while. But the tech support sent me windows disks and in the meantime I learned quite a lot.
After misusing the format command a couple of times I was afraid of quite a few commands. I remember 'choice' wasn't documented, so I was particularly afraid of that. But later I found out it does nothing but allows you to choose options in batch files.
I think computers those days were in general harder to use, but the easy parts were easy. The Icons, commands, executable filenames were all in some way metaphors for real life objects. Something the user can recognise and tie in with the functions of the application.
Nowadays, it is more about increasing the features and making it look glossy. Useabilty has somewhat lost its meaning. True, the newbie user can't so easily trash the system, but do they know whether a system is trashed or not. It could be a simple change that makes the computer look totally alien, and in the new users' perspective, it is "broken" and thus unusable. Will the tech support people be able to figure out what the actual problem is from the users description. As this story proves the answer too often is "no". Don't get me wrong, some tech support people do work hard and do have to work with difficult customers, but some are just plain useless.
I mean I have baught tons of hardware over the past years and have had to make a few returns. With some companies it is mandatory that you speak with tech support staff before making returns. Some of them are plain morons that need to just stay away from society.
I think a computer for a new user can be overwhelming. About 10 years ago most people who baught computers actually knew what they needed it for. Nowadays somepeople spend ~
04/30/2002 (2:13 pm)
What kinda manual does winXP ship with? I remember my big fat Win3.1 manual, which was really helpful when I baught my first ever PC. The dos manual wasn't as big, but again it was quite helpful.During the first couple of months I did screw up the computer quite a few times. The computer came with dos disks, but the windows disks were actually in image form on the hard drive, so after the first screw up I had to live with dos for a while. But the tech support sent me windows disks and in the meantime I learned quite a lot.
After misusing the format command a couple of times I was afraid of quite a few commands. I remember 'choice' wasn't documented, so I was particularly afraid of that. But later I found out it does nothing but allows you to choose options in batch files.
I think computers those days were in general harder to use, but the easy parts were easy. The Icons, commands, executable filenames were all in some way metaphors for real life objects. Something the user can recognise and tie in with the functions of the application.
Nowadays, it is more about increasing the features and making it look glossy. Useabilty has somewhat lost its meaning. True, the newbie user can't so easily trash the system, but do they know whether a system is trashed or not. It could be a simple change that makes the computer look totally alien, and in the new users' perspective, it is "broken" and thus unusable. Will the tech support people be able to figure out what the actual problem is from the users description. As this story proves the answer too often is "no". Don't get me wrong, some tech support people do work hard and do have to work with difficult customers, but some are just plain useless.
I mean I have baught tons of hardware over the past years and have had to make a few returns. With some companies it is mandatory that you speak with tech support staff before making returns. Some of them are plain morons that need to just stay away from society.
I think a computer for a new user can be overwhelming. About 10 years ago most people who baught computers actually knew what they needed it for. Nowadays somepeople spend ~
#7
> but they're getting better... Remember DOS? Remember
> someone new to computers _trying_ to do something with
> that? ;)
Remember Linux/Unix? Oh wait, its still here! :)
04/30/2002 (2:38 pm)
> Computers aren't that easy to use for the uninitiated, > but they're getting better... Remember DOS? Remember
> someone new to computers _trying_ to do something with
> that? ;)
Remember Linux/Unix? Oh wait, its still here! :)
#8
I don't think there is a user manual for WinXP... I didn't get one when I bought Win2K. (Was offered ten percent of one of those "For dummies..." books)
04/30/2002 (8:05 pm)
My personal favourite was Recover.com ;)I don't think there is a user manual for WinXP... I didn't get one when I bought Win2K. (Was offered ten percent of one of those "For dummies..." books)
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