Mere Karan Arjun

Hi hi hi.

A major reason for my prolonged absence from the blog-o-sphere has been my dysfunctional laptop. My lovely Toshiba, my first laptop, had stopped connecting to the internet. During the first month of this issue cropping up, I employed my tried and tested method. The one where I let it be for a week or a couple of weeks - not even touching it and then it would work perfectly. But, for just a week. I repeated this for a bit - then resorted to doing the more 'mainstream' thing and giving it to a technician to fix. Anyway, long story short, after about three months of problems, it was time to move on. As much as I was fond of it, I had to accept us parting.

So, a hello and first blog post from my HP laptop. It’s a pretty chill laptop.

Except.

WINDOWS 8. (insert apt WhatsApp emoji - because that’s the way we express ourselves)

I haven’t met a single soul (yet) who has shown some amount of happiness or indicating a level of comfort usually associated with Windows for Windows 8. Sorry Microsoft - it’s that initial itch, which I sort of expect to stay on for quite a long time. But I/we will be used to it soon - after all Facebook changes things at the drop of a hat and we still continue to log in, day in and day out.

A little background on my tech capabilities or comfort level:

Having a mother who you saw design a website for a company in the late nineties, guaranteed some early learning in the field of computers. I guess I picked up a lot of stuff when I was very young and had various email IDs (my cousin and I had Rediffmail, Yahoo!, ePatra, Hotmail ones for sure) and even enjoyed creating animation on Flash. I used to do well in Computers in school. But as with many things, I began to be dumber as I grew older. I believe I was a genius as a baby. After which, it’s pretty much been downhill, I guess. However, not a total dumbo in using my laptop.

This post is about mere Karan-Arjun - Google and Microsoft.

[For the record, the names aren’t being used for purposes of drawing an analogy. I like saying Karan-Arjun than Ram-Shyam or Seeta-Geeta.]

Google. It’s become a verb now. It plays a part in most of what you or I do on the internet. It is partially responsible for my dumb-ing down while becoming semi-smart. And the deal is, Google isn’t just about the search engine anymore. It’s all-encompassing (special shout out to Radhika). Gtalk. Google Maps. Picasa. Google docs. Google Chrome. It pretty much makes up most of what we do online. Which made me consider the Chromebook as an option to replace my Toshiba. Reviewers believe that if one spends almost 90% or above time on the web, the Chromebook is pretty darn perfect - in terms of budget as well. Your Gmail ID would be your gate pass to all your activities on the Chromebook.

But uh-oh. Can’t use Windows Media Player on it. (I know, most of us probably use VLC now but I’m a tad old school and prefer WMP, granted the file is compatible). And you realise that any Windows/Microsoft software would not work on it. Which didn’t make the Chromebook seem like a viable or appealing option anymore. Because the experience of using a computer without Windows just didn’t feel right or natural. Mac users, pliz refrain from commenting here. If I don’t have an iPhone/iPod or iMac or whatever, obviously I don’t have it. And that’s okay. I still got my Windows of opportunity. Heeheehee.

Anyway, I finally bought a laptop that runs on Windows. Except, 8 is just pure alien. And they suddenly want a Live/Outlook/Hotmail ID for everything! Like, when I sign in to Skype - I need it. When I switch my laptop on, I need to punch in my password for this ID. Except, I’m most comfortable with not needing to sign in and only have my two Gmail IDs (one for this blog, the other one for everything else). I also have a phone with the Windows 8 operating system and when I created a Live/Outlook/Hotmail ID for it, I conveniently forgot the password or the answer to the hint question or whatever. While I appreciate the stringent security measures they have for their IDs, I find it a little pointless because umm, I don’t really use it.

In any case, the people who started and make up Google and Microsoft - thank you. But don’t make me choose. Ever.
This super lame rant was my attempt at getting back to writing. My infrequency at writing has possibly made everyone who has read my blog before (and me) that I can't or don't anymore and so, no one even asks why I haven't updated my blog. I guess that's what made me realise I'd hit a major slump.