If you entered computing during the XP age, you missed out on all of the fun. Here is a piece of computer world history for you.. The title of the video says it all..

This spawned more humour like this photo on the right. It was particularly popular with Mac users. I must admit that when I first saw it, I did smile. Is it still funny? Not really, because computers and operating systems are way more stable than they used to be.

The days of unrecoverable Application Errors, General Protection Faults and the more specific BSOD of late are nothing like as numerous as they once were. Only users running ‘too good to be true’ utilities will still be ‘au fait’, but the photo on the right might make a comeback, albeit in slightly enhanced form, so reserve your laughter please.. 

Remember the worlds biggest tablet? Didn’t we all want one? What happened t the Microsoft Surface? Did you ever see one at PC World or Best Buy?. At the time, it looked great. Watch the video before continuing.

LOL. Did you like this?

Did you or anybody you know who saw the original promotional videos for the MS Surface ever see it as a replacement for a home computer or home based business computer? No?

Combine it with the keyboard above but enhanced to include an ‘F4’ key and you have the ideal Windows 8 home computer if you were to believe today’s hype.. Do you still think that it isn’t a smart idea because that is what you are being sold on. The only difference is that it is a pocketable 7” screen now.  Did I say ‘pocketable’’? If you have enough spare cash to buy a tablet and matching smartphone, the space created in your pockets by spending the cash should be enough to fit both devices.

Just like the Microsoft Surface, have you noticed that in all ads and demos for tablets, the primary function seems to be photo viewing? TV’s Shopping Channel and YouTube seem to concentrate more on pushing photos around,  a bit of exciting exchange in Facebook, maybe a fast drive via a ‘Need for Speed’ style arcade game, or the occasional video call. Did I say ‘video call’? Only if you have a matching smartphone do you get video calls. They don’t tell you that on the ads.

I have heard that these tablets are a great way to pass the time while waiting to be seen by your doctor, before you are due to go into a business meeting, or that awful period of time you have to wait between checking in your baggage and actually boarding the airplane. All great uses, but when you get home and your kids want to produce a poster for the ‘lemonade stall’ at the local fair, what are you going to use?

Is your boss going to believe the excuse that you were working out the best route to the business meeting with a competitor across town or will the ‘competition’ numbers on the side of your ‘car’ give the game away?

The Microsoft Surface, while never having been put into production, is not the dumb device that the parody above makes it seem. The big TV news stations have screens onto which they can swipe all kinds of data and information, moving it around, resizing, comparing weather or political polls or any other data.. If the price is ever reduced enough and made to withstand the rigours of daily continual use, you could be seeing restaurant menus incorporated into the tabletop, along with an ordering and paying facility built in.

There is definitely a place for the technology, but not everywhere. The mechanisms to produce the data are still to be found on the old desktop operating systems. This is the one area which SHOULDN’T change. 

The smart ones who still want to create and view will not be dumping their desktops and laptops with proper ‘desktop’ operating systems anytime soon.. For the rest who are content to have everything delivered to them on a plate, and a very small plate at that, love and embrace Metro.