If you’ve found this in your desparate search for answers to why your upgrade to Dreamweaver CS3 just won’t install on XP, congratulations. I wish I’d found it myself. I tried all sorts of searches at Adobe and at their Forum but it took a call to the Support folks to find the right Tech Note … and even then it took some creative problem solving. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve started out 2008 with a system recharge: business is picking up and so is the cold season. Even though I tend not to go out among the public very often, I still managed to pick up the latest cold virus incarnation. I don’t get discouraged by it, I consider it an opportunity for the immune system to readjust. Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, am I alone in feeling tired of this whole My Space phenomenon?

Maybe it’s my age, but it sure feels like the kindergarten let out early. The self promotion and virtual social hangout is silly. How nice that you have so many friends. Who cares? Aren’t you busy enough with real life?

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I wandered about the pages out of curiosity thinking maybe I’d get a page to promote what I do. After all, it’s the “savvy” thing to do, right? So, I signed up. Then what? Did I really want to spend all that time building one of those awful layouts and have complete strangers want to be my friend? I don’t think so. Guess I’m not ready for that.

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So, I continue to participate over at Yahoo Answers as a form of payback for all the help I’ve gotten from more advanced geeks. My focus is in the Programming and Design area of Computers and Internet. And what do I find? Every other question is from one of those MySpacers wanting help with a layout. Now, if My Space was so friendly, why does it seem so difficult to build a decent page over there?

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I am self-taught in computers and web design. I use the Internet to find resources. I dig until I get what I need in the terminology to which I most relate. It’s what I consider to be normal curiosity and self-reliance. To repay the generosity of countless people who have shared their knowledge and experience in my quest, I hang out at Yahoo Answers. I answer questions in a sincere attempt to help folks are who genuinely frustrated and don’t know where to turn. But I’m bewildered at how many people are just plain lazy.

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Unfair? No. It would take a person more time to write out the answer, which is already available by basic search engine magic, than it would take the asker to do it for themselves. There are hundreds if not thousands of young people using Answers to have others do their homework for them. Whatever happened to cracking the books open? Good Grief. The entire Internet is available. I never had all that information at my disposal when I was in school. To think what I could have accomplished with all that!

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One insightful Answers participant suggested computers are making people lazy. Perhaps. But if one is curious and has any measure of self-reliance, it is not in their nature to be lazy. It’s true that thousands of youth live in a virtual reality most of the time. Virtual friends, virtual identity, virtual games, virtual pets, virtual sex, virtual emotions. Virtual living.

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If you wonder what people are thinking about, visit Yahoo Answers. It’s virtually entertaining.