As I face the dilemma of migrating from one computer to another, I also realize I have gotten used to many things – first, of course, the way things work on my current laptop which I have had for almost four years! Then, the location of files and programs and even though my hard drive died once, I was able to recover most of the files and programs. It is interesting how attached you can get to something over time especially the operating system. I remember when we went from Windows 98 to XP, I was about to lose my mind. Things just were not where they were supposed to. Learning a whole new operating system and all the new features can be quite overwhelming. As I migrate from XP to Vista even today, I learn something new about XP that I did not know. As with most technology, you learn by doing and actively working on the technology rather than reading a book. At least that is how I learn. I am sure many of you can relate to this.
As I get older and more set in my ways, I realize now how hard it is for older people to pick up a new trade, skill, or learn technology. It is daunting for me even though I enjoy it! So, I look to my daughter and think, one day she will be teaching how to use the latest gadget and will balk at me when I cannot get the functionality right. My dad just asked me the other day to “walk” him through picasa because he cannot figure out how to upload videos. Hello! What’s there to figure out. You go to photo library, find the movie you want to upload, right click and scroll down to “Upload to web album”, pick the album, and voila, it is done. Yeah, well, it really is not easy if you are not wired to play around with something. It can truly be overwhelming to the not-so-tech-savvy user. I am amazed that my dad does as well as he does with technology.
Needless to say, it can be daunting. I am trying to create my own home network so that I can transfer files from the old computer to the new one. However, I thought this was simple and now I realize it is not. Not only is there compatibility issues between XP and Vista, but there are some network security problems when I try to do this. Last night though, I was able to set-up an Office Workgroup which seems like it is working but only time will tell. When I get home, I will need to try to sync the files from the old computer into the public folders and then see if I can access it from the new ones. Of course, because one is XP and the other Vista, there are two different methods to do this and I am not sure it will work but I am anxious to try it out. That is the computer programmer in me, if it does not work, keep trying it ‘til it does. Another option which I just heard about from a friend in the office is a data transfer cable which comes with software and that permits transfer easily between two computers, treating the other as a hard drive. However, if you do not want to spend an additional $21 and have an external storage device at home the best thing is to back up the files you want onto the external hard drive and then transfer onto the new computer with ease.
As we migrate from old technology to new, from a paper world to virtual reality, I realize that some things do not change – it always take time to change and always requires flexibility and patience. And if you are “wired” to change with the times, you will do it easier than someone who wants things to remain the way they are.
