Computers Su... Are Less Than Ideal

The following video takes the Mac vs. PC debate to it's logical conclusion. Very minor "profanity" in the end title card (alluded to in the title above).


Mac vs. PC

So, why is it that one person can plug a camera into his or her computer and it works perfectly, while their neighbor can't get it to work even after reinstalling drivers and performing updates?

Why will a program run flawlessly on one machine and not on another?

Why do some people get all sorts of malware while others never have an issue at all?

I don't know.

Sometimes computers are just lame. Most of the time "the problem is with the person in front of the computer"--as the German proverb goes (or so I'm told). But what happened, what did I do wrong? No one can rightly say.

Granted, some systems run better than others. For example, I'm working with a program at work right now that simply refuses to cooperate. I can't get it to do anything properly, and even if it does do something right, it will work correctly in one instance on my machine and then not work at all three seconds later.

Trust me: I understand the frustration of being held at the mercy of your machine.

It's not pretty.

What should we do when we encounter these problems?

Ask around. Sure, please come talk to me, but for as much as I know, there is way more to know. After that, ask on the product forums and see if people have ideas there. Then ask on more generic forums. Also, call customer/technical support if the company offers it. I find that they aren't that helpful typically, but it's worth a call.

Sometimes it takes a while to get an answer. Other times the answer never comes but the problem just goes away. Sometimes you just have to find another solution or scrap the project altogether.

We rely on computers these days. That's no worse than relying on air to breathe and water to drink. It's only problematic when we can't get water, air, or a program that works correctly.

 ~Luke Holzmann
Your Media Production Mentor