Month: November 2011

So today I needed to build a new Windows server for a client. (Yeah, yeah, I know…)

I must admit I haven’t touched Windows in a long time, so I’m not familiar with all of the yummy flavors. This was a bit of an emergency, so I had to pick up a copy right away– which meant calling some local stores. I started with Best Buy. They’re my last choice for actually buying things, because their prices are most certainly not the best. But in a pinch, they’re handy.

I called and was transferred to the Computer department. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Do you sell Windows 7?
Sales guy: Yes, we do. Which version would you like?
Me: I’m not sure. What are my choices?
Sales guy: There’s Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.
Me: Hmm. What’s the difference between Home Premium and Professional?
Sales guy: The Professional version has more professional features.

I absolutely swear that’s what he said. And it wasn’t a joke.

(dumbfounded silence)

Me: Okay, umm, can you be more specific?
Sales guy: Hang on– I have a Microsoft brochure over here.
(sounds of him fumbling around)
Sales guy: It looks like Windows 7 Professional has better connections for a business network. It also has more advanced backup options.

Side note: how does one get “better connections” on a network? Does the low-end Home Premium version drop packets randomly just so the Professional version looks like it’s smoother on the network? I don’t even know what that would mean.

As he stumbled through the brochure and a few more of the amazing professional features of Windows 7 Professional, I hopped over to Google and did a quick search. What I really cared about was which version runs Remote Desktop Server. It turns out Professional does, but that capability has been disabled in Home Premium. Nice. In the end, it was clear I needed the professional features of Windows 7 Professional, and the premium features of Windows 7 Home Premium just weren’t going to cut it.

Me: Thanks, I need the Professional version.
Sales guy: Okay, great.
Me: So do you have any in stock?
Sales guy: No. Let me check… (sounds of typing) … it looks like our Aurora store has a copy.
Me: I’d rather not drive 60 miles to Aurora. Could I just buy the Ultimate version?
Sales guy: We don’t have any copies of that either. But we do have four copies of Home Premium. Can I interest you in those?

(more dumbfounded silence)

Me: Umm, no thanks. Goodbye.

After I hung up, I was left with two thoughts:

1) Microsoft’s business model sucks. They intentionally cripple their software so they can charge more for “professional” versions, and then come up with stupid names that are really pretty meaningless if you want to know what you actually get in the software.

2) It’s no wonder I don’t shop at Best Buy.

Hah!

Today I brought a bowl of candy into the office. Josh grabbed a mini-bag of M&M’s and dumped it out on his desk. Five M&M’s rolled out. He grunted and said in a disgusted tone,

Indeed. Those bags are labeled “Fun Size” but come on, it’s hard to really have fun with five M&M’s. They need to be bigger. (Are you listening, Mars Inc.?)

On Wednesday Alex received his school laptop. All of the students in the high school engineering program get a personal laptop to use for the school year. There’s a $75 fee but overall it’s a fantastic deal. And they’re brand-new Macbooks, fully loaded with all of the software you’d expect a high school student to need.

Of course the school says the students shouldn’t install anything on their laptops, because if they screw up something then it’s a problem for the school to fix it. Apparently there’s some fee you have to pay if you need the school’s IT department to re-image the machine. So they strongly discourage any sort of tinkering with the system.

So, predictably, Alex brought it home and immediately came down to my office and asked for the wireless network password so he could jump online and start downloading software. He wanted to get some “widgets” for his desktop: things like a weather app, a cool clock, a scientific calculator, a dictionary, etc.

It struck me as funny because that’s exactly how I behave. As soon as I get a shiny new toy, I want to pop the hood and see how it works, make some changes, tweak the settings, whatever. So I was completely supportive, and enjoyed watching him mess with the computer.

I think this will be a great experience for him, and really get him into computing more. He’s been saying for years that when he grows up he wants to be a programmer, but he doesn’t really do anything about it– like learn some languages or actually write programs– so I’ve been skeptical. Now that he has “his own” laptop he might start down that road. We’ll see.