2002 Story Set
| March 5, 2002 I hate communications software. I am not fond of operating systems either. I tolerate installing software and upgrades as a necessary evil. I am an applications user. I run programs and do things with them. I teach other people how to do things with them. I write application notes, seminars and user manuals about them. I no longer write programs. Not at that level. Been there, done that. So, when I went to install the upgrade for Adobe Illustrator 10 on my Mac G4 minitower, I was not happy when it bitched at me that it was not going to install itself on any system that wasn't running Operating System 9.1 or greater. I was running operating system number 9, the one that came on the machine. Almost 2.5 years ago. I wasn't worried about this, because my old Mac laptop, the 3400, cannot run anything later than 8.3. It physically cannot. And Apple rebuilt it. Twice. And the G3 laptop had operating system 8.5 and not much else. My sons, sporting new G4 Titanium laptops, were running Mac OSX. I, however, was quite happy running 9. Illustrator 10, however, had other ideas. OK. I have the Operating System 9.1 CD. Upgrade time. And, yes, Operating System 9.2 exists. So what. My older son, in his hit and run the day of his birthday party had dragged the G3 by its heels all the way up to version 9.1 by way of 9.0. And it had promptly refused to run what software I had loaded on it. Except Microsoft Office. Which merrily reinstalled the missing pieces it wanted in my system folder. And told me so. Would that other software corporations were as cheeky. So I approached the invasion of a new operating system on my main (base) system with fear and trepidation. I shoved in the disk. My younger son said, "It will guide you." It did its thing. I crossed my fingers. The healthy operation of 20-plus software packages was at risk. It installed. Word opened. No "I am fixing myself" messages. FLASH opened. Eudora opened. But my modem did not respond. Not a good thing. So I figured, "Probably need a download. The operating system instructions said that might happen." It was Friday AM and I needed to get to work. So my younger son stepped in and, since he could connect (internal modem on his G4 minitower), he went hunting for a download. No joy. I was dressed and on my way out the door. At work, I looked up the number for Global Village Tech Support on the web and called. Turns out that Global Village was bought by Bocha which was bought by ZOOM. Tech support gave me an 800 number for ZOOM. Because my modem, as it turns out, cannot be upgraded. Nice. They did not explain the pedigree. That part I learned later. I called the Apple Store. They had no modems. But they told me that Elite Computers had bought five ComputerWare stores and that my store, where I got lots of stuff before, was back in business. I called them. They told me the saga of the sales and said that they had no modems - well, they had one. But the ZOOM one works for OpSys 9.1. I called ZOOM. They told me to call Mac Warehouse or someplace like that and that I would "have to install with a modem script." They gave me the tech support number. Full circle. I called MacWarehouse and they promptly shipped me the modem. It was on my doorstep in 24 hours. Less, actually. I called my older son. HELP! Meanwhile, my HP printer, one I have had since the dark ages (HP LaserJet4M) was flashing a 50 SERVICE message. Which could be: a temporary power surge. Turn off for 20 minutes and retry. (No joy.) Or it could be the power supply or the something or other (fuser?). HP has the best tech support site on the internet. I called them. A new printer was $399 - they would give me $20 for the old one. I decided instead to look up a service center, and found one 1.5 miles from where I was working. Fine. Monday. I went home and installed necessary tools (reinstalled them actually) on the G3 and connected to my email. I was having withdrawal. I delivered the printer at 8:05AM Monday for service. My older son was due Monday night to install the modem but he had a migraine. The printer is ready to be picked up. Only $179. Good. On Tuesday, my older son arrived and he and the younger one installed the new ZOOM 56K modem and Via voice (dictating software) while he was at it. I am back "on the air". The Illustrator 10 install is next. The original culprit in this whole piece. Now you know why I have sons. They take care of their Mother. Meanwhile, Adobe has released PhotoShop 7.0 and the new QuarkExpress 5 is out. It never ends. |
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