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Post by puffy on Feb 6, 2021 10:13:45 GMT -5
I'm retired from General Motors or as I jokingly refer to them generous motors..They pay an investment firm to handle their retirement pension payments for them.The investment firm direct deposits. my pension payment..I got an email from the investment firm telling me to go on their web site and print out my 2020 tax information..I tried 4 times ..I got an error page each time..My neighbor was here.She said I have a new lap top give me your info..She went home,went on her new lap top,printed it out and brought jt to me..So now I'm wondering if lap tops are like phones and become out dated in 3 or 4 years..This high tech stuff can sure scramble this old man's brain.
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Post by simnettpratt on Feb 6, 2021 10:34:52 GMT -5
There was a fella in the 50s, a guy named Gordon Moore, who co-founded a little company called Intel. You may have heard of them. He predicted in the 50's, that every 18-24 months computers would double in power. Specifically, the number of transistors you could cram onto the same size chip would double, and he's been proven right, so much so, that it's now called Moore's Law.
This means that if you buy the best, leading edge, bleeding edge computer now, (and you pay a lot for that last 10% of performance) in 1½ to 2 years it will be mid-pack.
Think if the top speed cars could go since the fifties had doubled every two years, how fast would they be going now? A jillion miles an hour? They'd be more like the transporters on the Enterprise. Ding! You're there! The entire transportation infrastructure would look totally different. This is what has happened, and is happening with computers.
An older computer still works, it just can't run the latest software. Your old pc might be able to run 2011 software, but nothing newer. Upgrade, and you can now run 2014 programs.
microsoft in particular, specifically designs new versions of windows to not work with older software, to try and force you to buy their latest version; IT guys call it The Forced March.
It's not that an older computer doesn't work, it's that you're limited to using older software; it doesn't mean that the older software suddenly sucks.
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 6, 2021 11:13:27 GMT -5
I'm retired from General Motors or as I jokingly refer to them generous motors..They pay an investment firm to handle their retirement pension payments for them.The investment firm direct deposits. my pension payment..I got an email from the investment firm telling me to go on their web site and print out my 2020 tax information..I tried 4 times ..I got an error page each time..My neighbor was here.She said I have a new lap top give me your info..She went home,went on her new lap top,printed it out and brought jt to me..So now I'm wondering if lap tops are like phones and become out dated in 3 or 4 years..This high tech stuff can sure scramble this old man's brain. I use a Dell workstation that is getting close to 10 years old and it works fine. It has been continuously upgraded, but it's still the same basic tech. There are all kinds of things that can interfere with a process, even on a new computer. |
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Post by taiguy66 on Feb 6, 2021 11:30:27 GMT -5
I spent a frustrating last weekend trying to synch a new printer to my new iPad Air. Long story short: the new printer wasn’t sophisticated enough to synch with my latest iPad and returned the printer for a newer model. Technology definitely sucks when it doesn’t work.
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Post by terrapinflyer on Feb 6, 2021 11:53:51 GMT -5
Yes, Moore's law applies, and as David alludes to, planned obsolescence. Even if you don't want the new bells and whistles, you may have to purcha$e something new just so your machine plays nicely with others.
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Post by bigwoolie on Feb 6, 2021 11:57:26 GMT -5
Yesterday I pulled out my pocket knife and sharpened my pencil. I can not hook it to my printer...but it never gives me an error message either and it always downloads any necessary updates automatically. 😊
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calabash
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Post by calabash on Feb 6, 2021 17:03:42 GMT -5
Sometimes websites are picky about which browsers they allow. I occasionally have an issue like that with Firefox, and have to switch over to Safari to make it work.
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Post by urbino on Feb 6, 2021 17:21:40 GMT -5
Sometimes websites are picky about which browsers they allow. I occasionally have an issue like that with Firefox, and have to switch over to Safari to make it work. We in the web software biz have been trying to get browsers standardized in the technical features they support for 20 years. They're a lot better than they used to be, but still not quite where we'd like them to be. |
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Post by Scott W on Feb 6, 2021 17:23:44 GMT -5
Yesterday I pulled out my pocket knife and sharpened my pencil. I can not hook it to my printer...but it never gives me an error message either and it always downloads any necessary updates automatically. 😊 Best response👍🏻 |
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Post by urbino on Feb 6, 2021 17:27:31 GMT -5
Yesterday I pulled out my pocket knife and sharpened my pencil. I can not hook it to my printer...but it never gives me an error message either and it always downloads any necessary updates automatically. 😊 Best response👍🏻 Until he needs to write something down and doesn't have his pocket knife on him. That's the pencil version of an error message.  |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 6, 2021 17:48:48 GMT -5
Sometimes websites are picky about which browsers they allow. I occasionally have an issue like that with Firefox, and have to switch over to Safari to make it work. We in the web software biz have been trying to get browsers standardized in the technical features they support for 20 years. They're a lot better than they used to be, but still not quite where we'd like them to be. Web software guys always write for the next generation instead of what the client has! 😁 🤠 😜 |
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Post by bigwoolie on Feb 6, 2021 17:50:40 GMT -5
Until he needs to write something down and doesn't have his pocket knife on him. That's the pencil version of an error message. You’ve never sharpened a pencil on a brick? Or a rock? And the day you find me walking around without a knife will likely be the day you find me walking around without pants...my hair standing on end...and a blank look in my eyes and drool coming from the corner of my mouth. 😂🤣 |
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Post by oldcajun123 on Feb 6, 2021 17:53:31 GMT -5
 First thing I put in my pocket is a knife when I put on my pants, but then I don’t put on my pants a lot.! 
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Post by urbino on Feb 6, 2021 18:10:23 GMT -5
We in the web software biz have been trying to get browsers standardized in the technical features they support for 20 years. They're a lot better than they used to be, but still not quite where we'd like them to be. Web software guys always write for the next generation instead of what the client has! 😁 🤠 😜 Ha. Not us. We have too many government/military users to be out on the bleeding edge. But that is largely the mindset. Web developers, generally, live in fear of not knowing/using the latest and greatest, because they're afraid they might not be able to get that job at the next shop up the "prestige" ladder. The fact everybody's afraid of that drives the whole industry to move forward at a breakneck pace, spawning and leaving behind frameworks faster than is good for anybody. The other big factor is a lot of these shops write a site/application for somebody, push it out the door, and move on to the next customer. They never have to maintain anything. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 6, 2021 18:46:43 GMT -5
Web software guys always write for the next generation instead of what the client has! 😁 🤠 😜 Ha. Not us. We have too many government/military users to be out on the bleeding edge. But that is largely the mindset. Web developers, generally, live in fear of not knowing/using the latest and greatest, because they're afraid they might not be able to get that job at the next shop up the "prestige" ladder. The fact everybody's afraid of that drives the whole industry to move forward at a breakneck pace, spawning and leaving behind frameworks faster than is good for anybody. The other big factor is a lot of these shops write a site/application for somebody, push it out the door, and move on to the next customer. They never have to maintain anything. It makes me feel so safe to know that the government relies on the Internet to defend us from the Chinese and Russians. 😕 |
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Post by urbino on Feb 6, 2021 18:57:55 GMT -5
Ha. Not us. We have too many government/military users to be out on the bleeding edge. But that is largely the mindset. Web developers, generally, live in fear of not knowing/using the latest and greatest, because they're afraid they might not be able to get that job at the next shop up the "prestige" ladder. The fact everybody's afraid of that drives the whole industry to move forward at a breakneck pace, spawning and leaving behind frameworks faster than is good for anybody. The other big factor is a lot of these shops write a site/application for somebody, push it out the door, and move on to the next customer. They never have to maintain anything. It makes me feel so safe to know that the government relies on the Internet to defend us from the Chinese and Russians. 😕 Hey, that's how the whole thing started, man. |
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Post by toshtego on Feb 6, 2021 19:44:05 GMT -5
My Retirement went "Pfffttt" years ago when the companies collapsed. I can sure pick them, eh?
I still have a tiny Retirement due me from one company which failed but was acquired by Bank of America. When I am 70 they will send me something, maybe. I am sure when I apply for the pension distribution there will be some reason why I am not eligible. I did not realize back then how crooked these companies are. I knew so many older people who lived happily with their pensions. It was a real shock to learn that did not exist for me.
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Post by puffy on Feb 6, 2021 22:02:14 GMT -5
First thing I put in my pocket is a knife when I put on my pants, but then I don’t put on my pants a lot.! I wear sweat pants around the house but when I put my pants to go some place a knife is in my pocket..My grand father gave me a knife when I was 10..He said I would need it to cut my plug chewing tobacco..I've carried one ever since. Though I've never chewed tobacco. |
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Post by urbino on Feb 6, 2021 22:25:49 GMT -5
My Retirement went "Pfffttt" years ago when the companies collapsed. I can sure pick them, eh? I still have a tiny Retirement due me from one company which failed but was acquired by Bank of America. When I am 70 they will send me something, maybe. I am sure when I apply for the pension distribution there will be some reason why I am not eligible. I did not realize back then how crooked these companies are. I knew so many older people who lived happily with their pensions. It was a real shock to learn that did not exist for me. Sorry to hear that. The Very Large Company I used to work for had a pension fund for decades, but they bought us all out of it a few years ago and rolled it into 401k's. There was a time when I would have preferred the pension fund, but that was before companies decided "pension fund" is another word for "free cash." |
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Post by swampgrizzly on Feb 6, 2021 23:16:39 GMT -5
My Retirement went "Pfffttt" years ago when the companies collapsed. I can sure pick them, eh? I still have a tiny Retirement due me from one company which failed but was acquired by Bank of America. When I am 70 they will send me something, maybe. I am sure when I apply for the pension distribution there will be some reason why I am not eligible. I did not realize back then how crooked these companies are. I knew so many older people who lived happily with their pensions. It was a real shock to learn that did not exist for me. I'm sorry to hear of your pension losses. None of those prior plans were covered by the Federal ERISA laws? I am not aware of how one gets something using the ERISA laws, but they are supposed to be in existence to protect people who worked at companies with retirement plans somehow. |
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Post by Ronv69 on Feb 6, 2021 23:20:39 GMT -5
I am supposed to have a small pension from the Graphic Arts International Union, but they have merged several times in the past 40 years. I spent more time on tracking in down, (with no luck) than I would get. I think they owe me $35/month.
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First thing I put in my pocket is a knife when I put on my pants, but then I don’t put on my pants a lot.! 
