If Bill Gates recompensed users for time wasted, he'd be broke

I grew up in a computer world where you knew what all the software was doing. That stopped being the case a long time ago. The Microsoft Windows XP + Office edifice must be quite something to behold, if anyone's capable of beholding it.

Five downloads to Office XP to update it came to 80MB and that, I presume was compressed. Updates 80MB? Insane.

Why was I doing that? Well, yesterday I took delivery of a dinky little machine called an Xda Trion. It's an all in one personal organiser, camera, phone and goodness knows what else. It's terrific and the first several hours were spent in blissful ignorance of what was to come. I set it up to mirror my previous Palm Tungsten T2/Nokia 6310i setup. (The Palm finally croaked last week. It was my third or fourth and it was time to move on. Or, at least, I thought it was.)

All my email POP accounts were set up. I dived between gsm/gprs and wifi. I may have even done a bit of UMTS, but I wasn't looking. I synched it to my car kit through Bluetooth and probably disturbed a few people's evenings by calling them. In short, it was everything I dreamed of.

Except. I thought, "what about backup?" And, the official answer is Microsoft Outlook connected through something called ActiveSync. Oh dear. I've been using Palm Desktop for years as my personal organiser. And The Bat! (true) for the most astonishingly powerful and flexible email system. And now I had to install Outlook.

Undeterred, I stuck the supplied CD in, expecting it all to be sorted in moments. No such luck. It messed with my machine so much that, for a couple of hours this afternoon, I couldn't get anything to work. Email, Skype, the web, all the things I depend on, were beyond reach. Actually, I lie, they weren't beyond reach, but whatever was going on inside my machine as a result of trying to install Outlook and ActiveSync seemed to be adding an [Enter] to every character I typed.

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I'm here now, because I've disabled every startup program I recognise. The machine is telling me that Outlook is working, so's ActiveSync, so a sync seemed in order. Not for the first time today, I've been left staring at an error message that says:

Microsoft ActiveSync

             ActiveSync encountered a problem on the desktop .

             Support Code :85010014

Oh good. I remember seeing that one about five hours ago. I've come full circle. And 'support' has to be a euphemism. I've installed and uninstalled. I've reamed the computer. I've tried to do things in a logical sequence. I've been challenged for original installation disks (for Office) and passkeys. And still I'm nowhere.

And, speaking of passkeys. The Outlook I am obliged to use on the desktop is going to run out at the end of July anyway. And Microsoft is going to expect me to buy a proper licence. Do I sound irritated? You betcha.

Oh, and I didn't mention that Microsoft refused to play ball on upgrades unless I used Internet Explorer (I use Firefox from choice). There's more. But this is not unusual. Unless you've got a brand new, clean machine, which runs all the approved programs, bringing something new into the fold from Microsoft can be a nightmare.

I've lost opportunities, goodwill, time and, probably, hair today. If I could bill Bill, so to speak, it would have to be for hundreds of dollars. And this isn't the first time, by a long stretch. I reckon Microsoft has cost me thousands, maybe tens of thousands, in wasted time over the years. I always think that next time will be better, but it isn't.

You can't help wondering whether Bill would actually be the poorest man in the world if he had to recompense all the users for the time they'd wasted struggling in the more arcane reaches of his softtware edifice.

Comments

[Joe Bruno]

Did the Xda Trion claim that it featured backup to a Windows machine?

If it did, then the claim is patently false, since you're going to have to pay for an additional piece of software (Outlook) before backup is possible.

Under the Sale of Goods Act, the shop that sold you the Xda Trion has misrepresented the device as having backup capabilities when it doesn't (except at extra cost). So demand a refund or a free copy of Outlook.

[David Tebbutt]

No Joe. It was entirely my assumption.

If you have a pda, you expect to be able to mirror it to the desktop at no extra charge, as I used to with the Palm.

Clearly I was mistaken. What do they say "Never assume because it makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and of 'me'.

Too right in this case.

[Dennis Howlett]

You'll hate me for saying this...get a Mac, n95, use Gmail - get over it.

[David Tebbutt]

Before you go making statements like that, you should try looking at the requirements I have.

I was a Mac user for many years. I know the advantages. I also know the disadvantages.

The same goes for gmail.

If you have a simple life, sure, get a Mac, use gmail and live happily ever after.

In my case, I have a training partnership and a software business (Windows) as well as being a journalist. I got fed up with running Macs and PCs in parallel, so it was with a heavy heart that I put the Macs out to graze.

As a journalist, quite a bit of my work is aimed at information professionals in large organisations. Despite your wishes for a better (Mac-based) world, the reality is different. At least we are moving great swathes of stuff to the web top which might eventually release us from the Microsoft death grip.

So, no Dennis, I don't hate you for saying it. But I think the arrogance ("get over it") is misplaced.