Things

They so don't get it.

HP, Dell, Lenovo, eMachines, etc. It's like so unbelieveably obvious, yet none of them get it.

You are using a PC right now. What does the phrase "Basic computing tasks" mean to you? The following statement is copied off of Dell's front page: "Basic Entry-Level PCs; Desktops for basic computing tasks; FREE Shipping on Basic PC's over $599." Every toll collector and dishwasher has a PC; I might go out on a limb here and suggest that not many of them do "basic computing tasks." The PC is the new telephone; it's a consumer product, like a blender, television or car. For some reason, the people that make them don't understand that. They continue to design them and sell them like they are tools for "computing tasks" or toys for hobbyists.

The machine that is sitting 36 inches from me as a type this is breathing like Shaquille O'Niel after a full court press. Loud. I'm shopping for a new one to replace it. What I get offered up is just stunningly, well, weird. It's like they did millions of dollars of research asking all the wrong questions. Their websites display a dozen models of varying capacities and speeds and other metrics -- numbers that probably mattered a few year ago -- but none of them address my more basic issues. Don't you have something small and quiet that will meet my needs and not empty my bank account? And why on earth do you think I want 27 choices?

Apple gets it, and that would be the obvious choice, except that all my licenses are on Windows and buying new ones for Mac would be expensive, so, I guess you could say I am a captive customer. You might think that one of those widgets over at spacely sprockets could figure this out.

It started with the CD player in the car - PE0. Every CD, the same - PE0. Thats all it says, then it pops it back out. PE0 used to be what it said when you put a disk in upside down. The last time I took a CD player to the deal to be repaired, it cost me $400, so I'm not all that keen to do anything about it.

Next up was my minidisc recorder. I don't use this very much, so I'm not sure how long its been broken. One slow afternoon, I thought about converting some old sessions to MP3. When I put in the disc, scratch scratch scratch ... TOC error. No dice. Fried.

Not much later, it was my Fuji F700 camera. They say it comes in threes, so maybe thats it.