talkingDigital

Cheap computers are everywhere. I say this knowing that cheap is relative. $600 to one person is different than $600 to another.

Some may think that $600 is high considering that the same $600 can buy you other items that will last much longer than 4-6 years and those things typically won’t break down or crash.

Is $600+ for a computer high when you compare it to a nice piece of furniture, art or a pretty good tuneup on your car?

Once you’ve purchased a computer, how much is too much to spend on a repair? When do you fix it and when do you replace it?

Sometimes we over simplify this decision process. We try to come up with formulas like, “If the repair cost is higher than one third the price of new, and the system is more than three years old, you should replace it.” However, there is much more to consider than a basic formula can offer.

No matter how much you spend on the purchase of a new computer or how much an upgrade or repair may cost, the true value of a computer is in the information, not the components.

If you suddenly lost your address book, how much would you pay to get it back? If you suddenly lost all of your photos, how much would you pay to get them back? If all of your financial and business data were suddenly gone, how much would you pay to get it back? Chances are that the value of one or more of these things exceeds the value of the computer.

The more I work with people and computers, the more I realize that computers can not be compared to anything else. Yet, people try.

People try to compare their computers to cars, appliances, and other items that we use in day-to-day life. Being a computer repair guy is far more stressful than being a washing machine repair guy. If the washing machine guy can’t fix the problem, does your entire wardrobe disappear? If he makes a mistake while replacing a belt, is there a chance that it will tear your clothes to shreds? Not really.

Working with computers is quite different. I have seen entire family photo collections disappear in an instant. I have seen years worth of financial data accidentally deleted. These are daily mistakes that have no equal in the world outside of computers.

There are two costs to every computer and both are equally important. There is the cost of the system itself and the cost of maintaining that system.

Buying a top of the line computer is worthless if you don’t spend a few dollars on a backup drive. Spending a few dollars on a backup drive is useless if  you don’t use it. Be honest with yourself and evaluate how important the data on your computer really is and how significant of a role it plays in your life.

This may be an eye opening process, but the sooner you realize it, the more you will take care of the information that the system holds.

OK, It’s been two weeks since my laptops were stolen, but I still haven’t completely gotten over it. What makes it slightly worse, is that I had just setup a Mac to take over as my primary desktop computer.

The Mac didn’t actually make the problem worse, but in order to set up the Mac, I had to move my PC to another desk. I didn’t get rid of it altogether.

I was fully prepared to use my Mac for all of my day-to-day functions but turn to my laptop around the house for email, Internet and other projects. I didn’t realize how much I had depended on my laptop over the past few weeks until they weren’t there anymore.

I have have been putting most of my computer time into making my life universal and compatible with all formats. I use Zoho.com for my document creation, NVU for my web editor, Firefox as my browser, Gimp and Picasa for photos and Thunderbird for my Mac and Ubuntu email app. I still use Outlook on the PC but I can’t remember why.

In the past month as I have been using my Mac almost exclusively as my home computer, I have found that it is a habit forming device. Concepts that are difficult concepts on a PC, like keyboard shortcuts and file management, are almost intuitive on the Mac.

When I tell people that I am migrating away from Windows in my personal life, I always get the same response, “Why?” They ask the question with an almost betrayed tone in their voice as though I have told them that I am leaving my wife.

I explain how easy the transition was and how I don’t have to mess with antivirus, spyware. disk cleanup and other utility functions that almost exclusively belong to the PC.

Their next thought is, “Maybe I should do that.”

I am not on a mission to turn people to Mac, but when faced with the option of moving to Vista or moving to Mac, I can’t form much of an intelligent argument for going with Microsoft.

Very soon, the only Windows machine I will be using on a regular basis in my personal life will be a MacBook with Vista loaded as an alternate OS. I still need Windows for when I am teaching my Basic Computer classes via the projector. Other than that, I can’t see myself using Windows personally for any practical reasons.

I have becoming fluent in speaking the language of Windows, I would like to one day speak, just as fluently in Mac, Linux, Google and Windows Mobile. I still don’t want to speak geek, I just call it talking digital.

Every January I post my tech predictions for the coming year. In our last newsletter, I reviewed my predictions for 2007 and pointed out that, with a little justification, I was 100 percent correct.

Now for my tech predictions of 2008…

Ron Paul will not be elected and there will be riots. But, only on blog sites that no one reads. CNN, FOX and other mainstream news sites will be forced to shut off their comment feature when Ron Paul is not invited as a third party candidate after the primary elections are over and he fails to get the Republican nomination.

2008 will be Vista’s last year. Microsoft will announce a new OS that will appear in early 2009 that will not be called Vista. The new OS will be targeted at consumers and will be designed to compete with OS X and Ubuntu. I will not go so far as to say that it will be called MSLinux, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

2008 will be the last year that it really matters what kind of computer you have. Adobe will introduce an online version of Photoshop and other major titles will follow eliminating the need to commit to a single OS.

People will grow tired of smartphones and there will be a new surge in simple phones. Other manufacturers will compete with Jitterbug to create a whole new market of simple cell phones.

The spectrum auction will take place and many big companies will buy in hoping to introduce the world to ubiquitous wireless Internet. Stock prices of companies involved will rise sharply. Soon after the auctions a judge will rule that the technology violates privacy and security concerns – expect a sell off.

Palm will be all but dead as they drop plans to release a Linux powered smartphone. Instead they will release one last generation of Palm/Access powered phones based on the Centro design.

USB 3.0 or a similar connection type that allows massive transfer speeds from external devices will begin to show up in high-end computers.

Canon will release a 12 megapixel budget SLR to replace the Rebel XTi. It will also shoot 4 fps and feature live  preview mode.

GPS will show up in nearly all high-end cell phones and other devices. Two-way GPS will be much more common allowing parents to track children and bosses to track employees.

Non-tech predictions….

Scientists will discover what caused global warming the last 11 times it has happened in the world’s history.

Bin Laden will be found alive in a Home Depot parking lot in southern California.

A long time celebrity marriage will end in divorce.

The world’s attention will be turned to a young person’s sudden, mysterious disappearance.

A high profile court case will take place involving a murder – Nancy Grace will use it as the topic for her show on CNN Headline news for 16 straight weeks.

A well known celebrity will enter rehab multiple times but will continue their dangerous party life.

Perhaps in a related story, a celebrity will be arrested for drunk driving and The Smoking Gun will post their mug shot.

CBS will introduce a new crime drama with social awareness statistics hidden in 60 percent of the dialog. “Lieutenant , I just read in my research on this case that 60 percent of all CBS crime dramas are made up of social awareness statistics!”

Someone will give Sean Connery one ping and one ping only.