The Computer Buzz

March 4th, 2010

Nome and Paul Van Middlesworth - owners - The Computer Factory
 

It’s Not Getting Any Easier?

Last week Igor 2.0 (Jared) and I were invited to speak to the Carlsbad Senior Center PC Users Group. Nearly all the 45 users in attendance had at least 5 years experience with PCs. I opened by asking for a show of hands, “how many feel that PCs are easier to use now than they were five years ago?” “How many feel that PCs are more difficult?” More difficult won 44 to 1.

For us at the Computer Factory, PC repairs and upgrades are more complicated because of the different kinds of RAM, CPUs, hard drives and operating systems that we see in PCs made during the past five years, but it isn’t hardware that creates the impression among users that PCs are getting more complicated, it’s software.

The catastrophic public relations failure of Microsoft’s Vista operating system, frustration over software compatibility between XP, Vista and Windows 7 and the compatibility issues between 32 bit and 64 bit operating systems have contributed. Add the increasingly sophisticated malware ambushes on the Internet and you have plenty of fodder for dissatisfaction. As nasty as these issues are they are not the main reason folks feel that using a PC is getting more difficult.

Most of us spend a lot more time doing things on our PCs today than we did five years ago. Internet aided activities like banking, genealogy, stock trading, social networking, income tax, video/audio editing, shopping, gaming, trip planning and a host of personal communications protocols like VOIP and video conferencing have been around for a long time but are now being far more frequently employed by non-business users.

The growth in applications on the PC platform has caused a corresponding increase in problems. Microsoft and others constantly offer service packs and critical updates to operating systems and Internet utilities. Third party applications like Real player, Adobe Acrobat and Reader, Flash Player, Java, Yahoo, AOL, Picasa, Internet security programs and others provide a gushing torrent of “upgrades” that are constantly crashing into one another causing compatibility problems. These factors have dramatically increased the opportunity for software related malfunctions.

The fact that we are spending more time and using more applications means that we are bound to have more problems. While users are competent in more applications today, most still know little about restoring operating systems and fixing application conflicts.

When something stops working we call the vendors “help” line. Problems often involve a combination of issues and simply can’t be solved on the phone by a tech on a teleprompter. To make things worse, many software companies offshore their “technical support” to places where English is so poorly understood that the $6/day telephone support “technicians” don’t even know they’re being verbally abused.

The absence of quality technical support certainly plays a part in our perception that PCs have become more “difficult.” Using a PC today is definitely more complicated. Users may be much more sophisticated but so are the problems. Phone-in help desks and remote access repair services can’t compare with hands on service.