Re: Archimedes Socrates, ace tech writer, wins another one

[Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com>]

Jane, I had to laugh. My mother - at age 79! - decided she HAD to get a computer
and get e-mail "just like everyone else." Yours truly had the task of finding
her one.

Then she decided she had to get DSL (her brother calls her nearly every night
and gets upset and starts worrying if her line is busy for more than a minute or
so. He has to take care of Big Sister, you know....).

Fortunately, I talked her out of that one. It was total overkill and she didn't
need the expense. For a third of the cost, she could get a separate phone line
JUST for the computer. Besides, I didn't want to go through the hassle of
installing the blasted thing! Setting up the dial-up for the ISP takes seconds
and not the hour or so to physically install a DSL modem and get the thing
configured.

Jo Byrd

Jane Carnall wrote in part:

> Actually, it sounded to me like someone should have had the same dialogue with
> him as my brother and I had with my mother. My brother is a hi-tech hobbyist:
> he has four computers, his own LAN, high-speed always-on access to
> the Internet, and just loves Neal Stephenson...
>
> The dialogue went kind of like this.
> Mother: I want to improve my Internet access. What should I do?
> My brother: Broadband high-speed always on access blah-de-blah-blah firewall.
> Me: What do you want to *do* on the Internet?
> Mother: Well, I don't know, exactly, but I seem to be spending an awful lot of
> money on phone calls and people complain that our phone's engaged.
> Me: Get one of the one-fee phone packages, surf all you like for X per month,
> and pick one that will give you a free extra phone line for Internet use only.
> They'll send you a CD. I can talk you through the install.
> My brother: But she'll still have to log on! That can take 2 minutes every
> time with her modem!
> Me: Yes. So what? Make a cup of tea!
> My brother: I just can't stand waiting all that time to get on to the
> Internet. By the time I've logged on I might have forgotten what I wanted to
> do.
> Me: Well, that's your problem.
>
> Actually, it's possible that Mr Fineman *is* my brother, at an earlier stage
> of evolution.


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