Computers

I don't usually get political – I figure my political views are my business and don't necessarily need to be shared. However, this morning I made yet another attempt at registering with the new Insurance Marketplace. It wasn't nearly as frustrating as last time.......mostly because once I entered the internet address, I got a screen that said “this site is temporarily unavailable, thank you for your patience”. What else can I be but patient? Frustrated, but patient. Until they get the bugs worked out of this website, we're all in limbo!

Update.......upgrade.......new site........these are all words that strike terror in the hearts of anyone who's ever worked on a computer. I actually started with “technology” in the fall of 1973 – I worked on one of the first editions of IBM's automatic typewriters. It was a huge monstrosity – we could only fit two units in our small office. But at the University where I worked, all the professors and business people could pick up their phone, dial an intercom phone number and dictate over the phone. Their letters and memos were recorded on a magnetic tape – a loop about 4” wide, a little larger diameter than a woman's bracelet.

We took that tape off the dictation machine and put it on the transcription machine, then we put on our headphones and used a foot pedal to advance and listen to the tape while we typed. The keyboard we used for typing was like a large IBM keyboard. Except that it was wired up to a cabinet-type device next to our desks, maybe 40” high, 24” deep, and 14” wide. We would insert a magnetic card into a slot on that cabinet, and whatever we typed was saved on the magnetic card. It was the first time I'd been able to retrieve and correct a document without having to type the entire thing over.

After 1973, I didn't have any close encounters with electronic keyboards for awhile. In the mid 80's I worked for a newspaper and that was my first introduction to computers. They used Macs for typing their news stories. I really started getting better acquainted with computers in the 90's. To that point, most of what I had done was specific to the business I worked for. My kids actually helped me get acquainted with Windows.

Some days I look at what I can do on computers and I'm amazed. I learned to type on a Royal manual typewriter. I've come a long way, baby! And I know that my blood freezes whenever I hear anything about upgrades! The absolute worst was when three networked computers were replaced with new computers, making it necessary to upgrade all the programs on all three computers. We were in a profession where we could not afford any disruption in work. We definitely didn't have the time or patience to find out a file we had used for years was not compatible with the new computers and wouldn't open in the new format. Urgh.

I've survived several equipment and software upgrades. And I've never seen one that went smoothly. Never. There are always undiscovered glitches. There are always crucial files that won't open in the new format. (I always tried to have a hard copy of any critical material.) There are specific commands necessary to do specific processes that no one knows because we didn't realize they existed (for instance, you know a certain command results in a certain action – but because that was already set up when you started your employment, you don't know what the background commands are).

So, I wait along with the majority of adults for the glitches to be fixed on this insurance website. And I'm a lucky one. I don't HAVE to buy insurance.....I just want to price shop. But, in the big picture, I'll take my computer with all their foibles and frustrations rather than go back to the old manual typewriter – with carbon paper, typewriter erasers, and everything else we had to use!