Comments on: Without credit, tech isn’t so tempting

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:20:20 +0000

I’d agree about Word, excapt that MS kept upgrading it till it was unbearable shit. It was amazing back in ’93. Now I hate it. But yeah, much as I love Scrivener, I did resent the time I had to spend figuring some of it out. Not a lot, mind: it’s very straightforward.

Similar with Outlook. I may be familiar with it, but I detest it. The switch to Postbox was a very happy event. But again, Postbox took about five minutes to learn. Anything that takes more than half an hour, I start thinking “I’m paying for this?”

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Wed, 12 May 2010 14:15:59 +0000

I think your exchange-rate problem may have been something to do with Parliament becoming unhung. very bad timing to be changing to Euro and back.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:11:12 +0000

> And yet that was the way this country was going in 2004, and you were the crazy one for questioning it.

Yes, absolutely. When we were buying our house there were loads of lenders quite happy to offer enormous salary multiples based on whatever salary we claimed to have. I’m self-employed and you’d think they’d at least want to see signed-off accounts, tax returns or other evidence of salary. Nope.

I can only assume the thinking was: Market’s rising so fast that if they default, we can sell their property and still make a profit. Crazy.

On a smaller scale, I don’t know if it’s still the case but the pressure to buy electronics and home entertainment stuff on credit used to be enormous. Especially via store cards.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:07:32 +0000

Still going on holiday btw – Aviemore’s looking good right now. Obviously we won’t get the weather we’d have got in Portugal, but emphasis now is on combination of enormous cooked breakfasts and amusing swimming pools for Sophie :)

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:06:25 +0000

I feel like that about Microsoft Word. I know other programs are better for certain things – Scrivener for writing books, for example – but I’ve got it on Macs and Windows boxes where I’m at home *immediately*. I hate having to hunt for a function, or pressing a keyboard shortcut that doesn’t work in a new application.

I think I’m the same with the iPhone now too. I’m very, very impressed by the latest HTC Android kit, but I like the programs and apps I’ve already got.

By: Gary

Gary — Wed, 12 May 2010 06:04:20 +0000

Thanks. One of those things. I’ll spare you the rant about the utter incompetence of EasyJet and the two-hour delay in getting our bags back, but I will quickly whinge about airport currency exchanges. Paid £99 for 100 Euro at about 10am; when I tried to change it back at noon, offer was £73. Bastards.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Wed, 12 May 2010 01:43:30 +0000

The time-to-learn-new-interface problem is a very old one, incidentally:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janko_keyboard

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:18:45 +0000

Oh, sorry to hear about your flight.

By: Squander Two

Squander Two — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:18:24 +0000

Another thing about kids making new tech less pointful is the time you have to learn a new interface. If someone were to launch The Best Operating System Ever, I wouldn’t get any of their stuff even if it were free. Now I’ve got a family and less time to waste, I want stuff that works exactly the way I’m used to. When time’s precious, time spent learning to use a new thing is time that could have been spent actually using an old thing.

One of the reaosn I stick with Nokia, I suppose. I’m aware of the problems with their OS, but I happen to know it back-to-front. Very sad to hear they’re planning to ditch it.

By: Heather

Heather — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:54:57 +0000

On the easy credit for shiny toys thing. When we got married and started shopping around for a home, we learned that we couldn’t get a mortgage. I had only lived in the UK for a few months, and banks require a minimum of 3 years before they’ll even look at you. So we were SOL. And yet, we were finally offered a mortgage…from Northern Rock, in the form of a 6x combined salary mortgage plus a loan. It was a surreal choice for a pair of newlyweds: either no mortgage and no home, or a 6x mortgage plus a loan. And yet that was the way this country was going in 2004, and you were the crazy one for questioning it. When we turned down the offer they literally couldn’t believe it; they had never heard “no” before. We eventually got a tiny mortgage for a tiny home that we could afford. It’s no status symbol or step up a ladder. But it’s home.

None of us have the disposable income we used to. We never had it in the first place.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 11 May 2010 14:43:44 +0000

Cancelled. Arse.

By: mupwangle

mupwangle — Tue, 11 May 2010 11:53:06 +0000

…your face might stay like that?