Is there something wrong with simple?

[birdguy 3,943]

I got a letter from my ISP the other day saying they are getting rid of their e-mail service.  I've been with them for 25 years, ever since they ran cable into my neighborhood.  But they say they are dumping their e-mail because many of their customers are going to G-Mail and other e-mail servers that offer more 'stuff'.  Someone suggested I go to G-mail, which I did and yesterday I had an IT come to the house to set it up for me to be more like the e-mail I have been used to for 25 years.  He did a good job of doing that for my wife and I because I am no longer capable of dong it myself. People send me e-mails, I answer e-mails, and I send e-mails to people I select from a list on the left hand of my screen.  I don't need conversations and chats and sorting out my e-mal friends.  I like simple.

Just now I saw an ad that asked, "Are you getting all the tools and programming features you need from your browser?"  Oy!  What tools and programing features?  I just need a box to enter what I'm looking for and wait for the answers to come up.

We aren't all IT techs running businesses or programming programs.  Some of us are just simple folk that don't need a self driving car with all of the bells and whistles to drive to the corner store.

Now I'm not a against all these things for people who need them.  If you want a Swiss Army knife fine.  But if all I want to do is cut slices from an apple a single blade jackknife would serve me well.

E-mail should be like AVSIM Hangar Chat.  I say my piece.  People respond sometimes.  And when they do I respond back...or not.  So simple even a dunce like me can do it.

After I got G-Mail I told the guy who suggested it that I had no idea what all that stuff was.  All I wanted to do was send and receive e-mails.  He told me, "Well click this and select that and click that and select this and......"  My next call was to a local IT tech.  He charged me 85 dollars to set up my e-mail and my wife's e-mail and I consider the saved aggravation well worth the price.

Noel

 

 

[Christopher Low 5,352]

I agree, Noel. I only started using a mobile phone two years ago, and even that is a hand me down from my younger brother. It has all kinds of features and "apps" (I hate that term), but I only use it for a handful of texts to a handful of people. I can't even be bothered to use it as a phone, because it is just too awkward to hold in the correct position without accidentally pressing the buttons on the side!! I have also used it to take a few photos, but again that kind of thing is not a big deal to me (I prefer not to let everyone else know what I am about to eat)

[birdguy 3,943]

Don't get me started on iPhones.  I got talked into one when my old flip phone crapped out.  They even want me to watch movies on it.  But I have to admit I like asking Siri what the weather is going to be like today.

I can see the future when you don't have to get out of bed in the morning if you have a laptop and iPhone handy.  Get up at noon and have lunch.  Then spend 30 minutes on one of a myriad of exercise machines I see advertised on TV every evening.  Spend the afternoon back in bed doing your job on your laptop and iPhone.  Then answer the door to get your Pizza to eat in bed while watching television on your laptop until you get sleepy after a hard day's work.

Noel

[W2DR 1,860]

You're not alone Noel. Martin Cooper and his group at Motorola were the folks  generally credited with developing the first true cellphone back in 1973. When recently asked how he felt about the advancements cellphones have made, especially with features like apps and cameras, etc., Cooper said: "I must tell you as much as we were dreamers, we never imagined that all these things could be combined into one, and I'm really not so sure that it's a great thing. Phones have gotten so complicated, so hard to use, that you wonder if this is designed for real people or for engineers."

[fppilot 4,358]

This stuff makes me crazy as well.  I have had a personal web domain with GoDaddy and it had associated email accounts.  Multiple email addresses so I was able to create and use aliases for different activities.  One for Flying.  One for use with online orders.  Another for Support issues.  Etc.  After 11 years, two months ago GoDaddy made the decision to discontinue email and force everyone to move to Microsoft 365 email, which charges an annual fee for each account.  No way, never!  And the worst part was that virtually 90% of all the web sites I use have an email-based User ID.   So I spent the better part of a week catching up with quite a number of web site login ID's and PWs.

Then just today I received an online invoice from my local ISP.  My new all-in -one cable, internet, and telephone package bill jumps a full 25% over last month.  Why.  End of my two-year commitment and loyalty discount!  Did they contact me first to advise and ask if I wish to commit for another two years to get those discounts back?  No!  They force customers to pay close attention because if not the ISP gets away with it!   

Oh!  Don't ask me why I have kept landline telephone service in the package!  If I remove unlimited landline LD phone use the package changes, and remaining services actually cost more!  They have a monopoly in my area!  😡

Edited September 12, 2021 by fppilot

[martin-w 3,234]

Cars are a good example. The gadgets and gizmos and features added are endless.

 

Now I'm a technolgy and science fan but even to me it seems a bit daft. Most of the stuff unnecessary.

Electric parking brake: Why, what's wrong with a lever?

Auto windscreen wipers. Why, we are capable of turning a switch.

All manner of features in the infotainment system, most of which are never used.

The daftest one Audi do, is the car notices when a service I'd due, rings up the dealer and books it in for you. 😷 or you could just use the bloody phone yourself.

 

[birdguy 3,943]

I'm with you Martin.  My bugaboo are touch screens.  Touch screens have no place in an automobile.  You have to take your eyes off the road to use them.  Take the heater/air conditioner fan for instance.  A simple twist knob on the dash you can reach over and twist left or right lets you adjust the fan speed without taking your eyes off the road.  But if I want to adjust the fan speed on my car I have to pull over, stop, and find the heater on the menu just to adjust the fan speed up and down.  I wonder how many rear-end collisions are caused by someone looking at his/her touch screen.

On the other hand I appreciate the proximity warnings when I am backing out of a parking space at the super market and someone starts pushing their grocery cart behind me and the flashing blind spot light on my side view mirrors when some is coming up from behind.   I especially like the HUD speedometer display on the windshield so I don't have to look down to read it.  And if I am using the GPS the HUD lets me know where the next turn is a mile ahead of time.

Noel

[martin-w 3,234]

20 minutes ago, birdguy said:

Touch screens have no place in an automobile.

 

I don't mind them for many things  like navigation and entertainment  and to access various car functions like settings etc.

But Tesla's for example, too many important functions are put on the screen off to the right somewhere instead of the logical place right in front of your eyes where they've always been. And why dispense with wipers and lights on stalks on the steering column? It works for gods sake so why change it and make it less convenient. Even the speedometer is a digital display on the screen over to the left of the car somewhere (right in US) instead of right in front of you where you can simply flick your eyes down and check your speed.

But yes, I agree regarding heater controls. Daft to put them on a touchscreen, nice to see that companies like Audi still use big knobs, I like big knobs! 😳

 

Quote

On the other hand I appreciate the proximity warnings when I am backing out of a parking space at the super market and someone starts pushing their grocery cart behind me and the flashing blind spot light on my side view mirrors when some is coming up from behind.

 

Yep, the safety features are a good thing. My Mazda CX5 had City Safe, where if it detected you were about to hit something it slammed the brakes on. Was useful a few times but likewise it did activate when it shouldn't have a few times which was disconcerting. Rear view cameras and parking sensors are very useful these days. 

A HUD would get my thumbs up because I could pretend I was a fighter pilot. 👍

The most annoying has to be electric cars that instead of having a lever that you can manipulate for forward and reverse, have some push button switches. What kind of stupidity is that? On UK roads, and the same here in the Channel Islands, you find your self having to change gear relatively quickly, the last thing you want to be doing is  glancing around for the right button.  Levers that you can find and move without even looking obviously make more sense.

 

[goates 576]

32 minutes ago, birdguy said:

Touch screens have no place in an automobile. 

Whole heartedly agree with this. Bought a new vehicle a couple years ago, and one of the reasons I didn't go for a couple options was because of everything being managed though the touchscreens. As much as the sales people, and some reviewers online too, tried to claim you would get used to it, I just couldn't see how it would be safe to have to take your eyes off the road. Add to that living in a northern climate where it could be below -20C in the winter, and you need to be wearing gloves until the car warms up. Having to take them off to change something isn't convenient, and the touchscreen friendly ones don't always work, and often aren't precise enough when they do. Switches and knobs still have a their place.

I also agree about backup sensors and cameras too. This is a better use of new technologies. The lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control have also made longer drives less tiring.

I think some of it is the engineers and designers getting a bit too excited about using new technology everywhere, and I hope some of it turns around.

[birdguy 3,943]

2 hours ago, goates said:

I think some of it is the engineers and designers getting a bit too excited about using new technology everywhere, and I hope some of it turns around.

It's the if you can do it then do it syndrome.

Noel

[Fielder 3,661]

Siri is so simple, even a p

On 9/12/2021 at 11:07 AM, fppilot said:

 

Then just today I received an online invoice from my local ISP.  My new all-in -one cable, internet, and telephone package bill jumps a full 25% over last month.  Why.  End of my two-year commitment and loyalty discount!  Did they contact me first to advise and ask if I wish to commit for another two years to get those discounts back?  No!  They force customers to pay close attention because if not the ISP gets away with it!   

  😡

Comcast did that to us too, no more loyalty commitment discount. So we switched our TV over to youtube TV which is much cheaper after add on fees and taxes. Unlimited DVR, and tons of sports, including all our local teams channels included free.

Kept the cable for internet only. Also cable rented 'gateways' suck because they have no antenna ears like a cheaper router which will usually give more speed at longer distances. Buying routers is easier and cheaper. Just rotate the ears while testing speeds at ookla.

[brucets 94]

Simple is for me! I'm all in favor of simple! I never even turn the radio on in my car, even on long trips! I'm a map person too!

Simple is why I play FSX on Steam using only default/simple jetliners and control + e! I don't have MSFS cuz it isn't simple and there is no simple default 737-800!

Bruce

Edited September 20, 2021 by brucets

[birdguy 3,943]

I set up startup scenarios with the aircraft at the gate or in a parking space and save it.  Then copy it to the desktop.  That way I don't have to go through the startup screen.  I click on the icon and my aircraft appears on the ramp.  I get in and press 'J' (I have remapped the controls and keyboard).  Now the engine has started and I am ready to go.

I don't buy any of the new aircraft that don't have an immediate startup procedure.  In airliners I don't want to play pilot and copilot with a checklist startup procedure that makes me switch from one panel to another.

Noel

[brucets 94]

Yep! I have certain saved scenarios too. ctrl + e during pushback and I'm off. I file VFR, in fair weather, so I don't have to mess with ATC until I get to 140mi from my destination. Then I refile IFR and let ATC guide me in. If I get a visual landing I push the panic button! I always set the wind so that I get the most convenient ILS runway assigned. Sometimes that doesn't work though. Oh, and I always fly GPS Direct so that I know exactly how many miles are left to the destination.

Bruce 

[birdguy 3,943]

I always fly in fair weather with no wind.  A 3/8 layer of cirrus at 39,00-40,000 feet to give the sky some texture.  Sometimes I fly GPS Direct but I often in the mountains at a lower altitude than peaks so I have to fly around them.

Noel