Broken Windows
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Windows is simply a sorry excuse for an operating system. Today I went down to the Driver Services Centre which is operated by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (or Icky-Bicky for short). About two minutes after I got there, their entire computer system crashed.Not just in the office, but basically every single insurance office, Driver Services Centre, and AirCare Centre. The lady phoned the head office, and a recording reported that it would be about two and a half hours before things would be fixed. Without a thought, she then put up a sign reading "We are experiencing computer difficulties. We apologize for the delay." This sign looked like it got a lot of use. People in the office tried rebooting their own systems a couple of times, but of course that didn't help. Just yesterday, Mike tried to get insurance for his car, but they couldn't give it to him because the systems were down and they couldn't verify that his car had passed AirCare. Last week, I had phoned the insurance centre at London Drugs to ask a question about renewing my own car insurance, and I was told that their systems go down frequently.
My question is this: How is this even remotely acceptable? How do you Windows users accomplish anything? I'm sorry, but every time I have to deal with Windows or a Windows user, nine times out of ten there is a problem of some sort. Be it a blue screen of death, an incompatibility with something, or a hardware/driver problem, something always goes wrong. I was in the computer department at London Drugs observing a salesperson demonstrating the awesome power of Windows XP. The customer seemed interested, and requested a print-out of something. The salesperson could not get the brand new computer to print on the brand new printer. Impressive.
I don't care how big a market share Windows has -- that really doesn't say anything. Most people are sheep, and as such, follow the flock. I'm not saying the Mac is perfect, but it certainly is light-years ahead of the PC.
