I believe that this will turn around eventually and see people abandoning tech for the “novelty” of human contact. But for some it’s just going to be their way of existence. Perhaps the sci-fi writers weren’t too far off when they predicted people interacting online 24×7 and having satisfying lives there? At that point what more do you need than an Internet connection and food? Will we eventually see entire living arrangements around this, 8×10 pods with a broadband connection?

A few years ago I began dropping off various e-mail lists and don’t do nearly as many e-mails as I used to. I’ve grown very weary of it all. The low volume is nice.

- Iconic, touch, drag and drop, select, etc, as you can do with mouse clicks or touch screen

- Entering words to generate information (keyboard–usually, although there is some voice recognition)

You have to do both types of manipulation when using a computer for most business tasks. The typical UI forces you to click various things before you can begin typing information, for example (consider creating an E-mail in Outlook). Then editing that information requires selection and copy/paste, easier with a mouse-like device. So it’s really a combination.

The ideal device would combine gesture/manipulation inputs with alphabetic or lingual inputs. Or we need to redesign the interface itself to make both types of tasks possible using the same device or make one side of the combination unnecessary (go back to DOS, anyone? ). On-screen keyboards (even with tactile feel) seem like they’d be horrible if you have a lot to type, and keyboards are horrible at moving icons around. Voice recognition is one possibility. However there must be some kind of bridge device somewhere to allow for gestures and alphabetic input…No idea what that is. I don’t know if the tablet will be it, though…maybe if they get the on-screen keyboard right.

- Iconic, touch, drag and drop, select, etc, as you can do with mouse clicks or touch screen

- Entering words to generate information (keyboard–usually, although there is some voice recognition)

You have to do both types of manipulation when using a computer for most business tasks. The typical UI forces you to click various things before you can begin typing information, for example (consider creating an E-mail in Outlook). Then editing that information requires selection and copy/paste, easier with a mouse-like device. So it’s really a combination.

The ideal device would combine gesture/manipulation inputs with alphabetic or lingual inputs. Or we need to redesign the interface itself to make both types of tasks possible using the same device or make one side of the combination unnecessary (go back to DOS, anyone? ). On-screen keyboards (even with tactile feel) seem like they’d be horrible if you have a lot to type, and keyboards are horrible at moving icons around. Voice recognition is one possibility. However there must be some kind of bridge device somewhere to allow for gestures and alphabetic input…No idea what that is. I don’t know if the tablet will be it, though…maybe if they get the on-screen keyboard right.

So in a few years perhaps most of the music produced will never be made available in physical form. Perhaps even video at some point.

If Kindle and other technologies become popular, will the same happen with books and reference materials? Will we eventually wind up in a society where we have access to these materials solely in non-physical form? If so, who will maintain such collections? Will they edit or censor this material? Will their selection of content be guided solely by profit or other motives? Will someone control who sees what? Will the government decide to ban some materials and effectively eliminate them? Will powerful religious authorities?

Hopefully we are not on the road to censorship and having information closed off. Although some people use information for vile purposes, humans are overwhelmingly at their best when exchanging information, learning, and using new ideas freely. It benefits us all. To lose a large storehouse of knowledge is devastating, as with the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. All eggs in one basket is scary.

Search-Replace in an Outlook 2003 document. Yep, it’s under Edit, where it’s always been. Now find this same operation in Outlook 2007. I’ll go get lunch and come back in a day or two.

Now that you have finished your edit, click send to put it into the Outbox. Oops, you want to change something, so go into the Outbox and edit the message before it is sent to the Exchange Server. Update the message. Send it again. What? An error? Close the message. It says you made changes. Save them. Bzzt. OK, edit the e-mail in the Outbox again, send again…this time it works. Whew. Umm, Microsoft, not like this is an uncommon operation or anything…

Let’s not forget that when sorting the columns in Outlook that you’ll wind up at the top now and then even if you have a message selected (you’re supposed to stick on that message).

I disagree with the idea that “you just have to get used to the new software”. Windows XP and the slightly older version of Office helped me get my job done. This new stuff isn’t “new and better”–it has regressed in usability, so it’s “new and worse”. Is that what Windows 7 will be in the end?

Now I have Vista (which can’t figure out how to display folder contents consistently (found a workaround for that which works most of the time)), gets completely messed up when you move the laptop among various display configurations, and powers itself up randomly at 3 am–zipped up in my laptop case–even though no tasks are set to wake up the PC.

Microsoft: Don’t get me used to something and then change the rules of the game as you did with Office 2007. This “ribbon” thing is HORRIBLE. And when you come out with a new OS, it should be faster and less buggy–period.

Good luck with Windows 7. I’ll stick with XP ’til I can run a Linux with everything I need. Software vendors: WAKE UP! Supply Linux versions, and we will come.

Here’s my typical desktop:

- E-mail and IM for work
- Trillian for my 4 IM accounts (and to notify me of e-mails I don’t check frequently)
- Firefox: GMail to corral my however many e-mail accounts and for IM
- Firefox: Yahoo for the headlines
- Firefox: Facebook
- Vista Gadgets for weather, stock, etc.

I’m sure I’m not alone. If Google Wave will allow me to dashboard all this (similar to how My Yahoo does), it might be interesting. I enjoy GMail, as it allows access to all my e-mail accounts through firewalls (although it won’t let you delete e-mails from my POP accounts at this time).

However this brings up the question of social networking and how far we want it in our lives. At what point does this “fun” stuff become information overload and create more stress than it is worth? Are we just constantly looking for ways to organize and reorganize the increasing mountain of information that’s following us around?

This may be the time when a lot of Windows users take a hard look at the applications they run and consider another operating system. If most people do e-mail and web browsing and occasionally edit some photos and simple documents, a free distribution of Linux and downlodable and web-based tools may just fit the bill, at perhaps the price of having to do a little digging and maybe encountering a few complexities here and there.

After trying many things uncovered in several forums on the ‘net concerning clearing the Registry and trying an old USB mass storage driver, the BAD cable was discovered when all mass storage devices and all cables were removed from the USB card and I plugged in a simple CF card reader with its own pigtail cable. This device used the suspect Windows USB mass storage device driver, and it worked fine. Then I plugged in a camera with the BAD cable, and everything broke. I used another cable with the camera, and it was fine. Problem narrowed down and solved: BAD cable.

Having trouble initially with the GOOD cable masked the fact that a BAD cable attached to the USB card (and not even to any other device–just the hanging cable!) was causing all the trouble.