HI,
Today was a big day and it was because the technological revolution was in full force in my studio and almost blew me away like a dratted storm!!!!!!!!!!!
As many of you know I write and publish books and Kindle carries my two novels, "Absolute Power" and "The Drone Solution" as well as an e-book copy of "The Letters, Portrait of an Artist, Jim Houser" and a hard copy version. I have 25 books all together at different venues and I wanted to include about 10-15 of them on my Kindle bookshelf for sale on that erstwhile e-book outlet. Kindle was more than willing and I started the process last week of transferring them to Kindle. Or not transferring them because TECHNOLOGY STILLED MY EFFORTS AT THE COMPLEX PUBLISHING BUSINESS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO HERE I SIT BROKENHEARTED, I TRIED TO TRANSFER AND ONLY FAILED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OR SOMETHING OF THAT NATURE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Of course, I've been using TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1982 WHEN I STARTED WITH MY FIRST COMPUTER AND COULDN'T MAKE IT DO ANYTHING BUT BLINK AT ME FOR THREE WEEKS AND COMPLAINED SO VOCIFEROUSLY THAT MY SPOUSE THREATENED TO THROW IT OUT WITH THE TRASH. I FINALLY DISCOVERED HOW TO MAKE A SMALL PROGRAM THAT ALLOWED ME TO OPEN IT UP AND USE IT LIKE A TYPEWRITER AND THAT SATISFIED ME FOR AWHILE. IT WAS CALLED RADIO SHACK TS80 AND WE USED TO RUDELY REFER TO IT AS TRASH 80.
Finally, in the late 80s-EARLY 90'S I took the plunge and bought into the new equipment which BY THEN HAD BROWSERS TO GET YOU GOING AND FINALLY INTO THE INTERNET. IT WAS A WONDER AFTER TRASH 80 AND I NAIVELY BELIEVED ALL WAS WELL.
Okay, it was for awhile, until I decided to become my own Publisher. At first, that was no problem since there were companies very tech-wise that could do things for me that made my life fairly easy. Then being a "GOOD CAPITALIST", I branched out--not a good money maker but certainly all the instincts for one. I began to write in various venues like my Blog on Google, in Blurb for mostly color for my photo books and art, then Kindle and Nook. It's a lot to keep up with if everything goes right. BUT WITH TECHNOLOGY THAT'S A BIG---------BIG---------IF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE PROBLEM SEEMS TO BE THAT EVERYONE ON THE WEB IS A "GOOD CAPITALIST" EVEN WHEN THEY CALL THEMSELVES SOMETHING OTHER THAN THAT. THE COMPANIES WANT TO COME OUT WITH THE LATEST, THE BEST, THE MOST ADVANCED, THE PRICIEST WHATEVER STARTING WITH ADOBE THAT NOW SELLS CLOUDS ON A MONTHLY BASIS SO THAT THEY CAN BE IN YOUR WALLET AD INFINITUM.
OK. ALL THIS CHANGE TO SOFTWARE CREATES SOFTWARE GLITCHES. IF YOU UPDATE ONE SOFTWARE PROGRAM USUALLY IT AFFECTS THE USE OF TWO OR THREE OTHERS THAT USED TO WORK JUST FINE BUT NOW CAN'T MEET THE NEW STANDARDS SET BY THE FIRST PROGRAM. THAT MEANS.............YOU GUESSED IT............MORE CHANGE. THAT CHANGE WILL THEN MEAN YEP...............MORE CHANGE BECAUSE THREE OTHER SOFTWARE PROGRAMS REQUIRE UPDATING OR BECOME OBSOLETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DRAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DRAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! DRAT !!!!!!!!!!!!
COMPANIES TRY TO COMPENSATE BY AUTOMATICALLY UPDATING PROGRAMS TO KEEP UP WITH THE CONSTANTLY MOVING TECHNOLOGY BUT THEY CAN'T OUTGUESS THE MARKET AND SO SOME AREAS GET LEFT BEHIND.
TODAY, I TALKED TO THE TECH GENIUSES AND THEY RECOMMENDED SEVERAL SHIFTS IN THE FORMATTING, AND NEW FILES FOR THE DOWNLOADS AND IT ALL SOUNDED SO SIMPLE-----------SO EASY---------WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT BEFORE ???????????? THEN..........YOU GUESSED IT. iT DIDN'T WORK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I TOOK ALL THE RIGHT STEPS, PROCEEDED DOWN THE STEEP SLOPE, TAKING CARE NOT TO TRIP UP, CHECKED EVERYTHING TWICE AND FELT SMUGLY CONFIDENT. ..................and it failed !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can't tell you how many OF MY WRITING HOURS.......... hours!!!!!!!!!! are wasted on this medium (technology)that is supposed to be so much faster, because it's like a fine tooled motor. All the little bits have got to work together and you can't put a new part in an old program without a glitch. I PROBABLY COULD HAVE WRITTEN 10 MORE BOOKS IN THOSE HOURS WHICH IS WHY I AM ALWAYS HARPING ON THE NEW GENERATIONS LEARNING TECHNOLOGY !!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT LEAST THEY'LL HAVE A HEAD START ALTHOUGH I HAVE TO WARN THEM THAT CHANGES WILL CONSTANTLY OCCUR THAT WILL FORCE THEM TO REEDUCATE THEMSELVES BUT THAT WILL CERTAINLY BE EASIER WITH GOOD TRAINING.
I TRAINED TO BE A WRITER AND AN ARTIST. I KNEW I'D HAVE TO STRUGGLE BUT I NEVER DREAMED IT WOULD BE AGAINST MACHINES THAT HAVE THE UPPER HAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH, I'LL PLAY THROUGH. I ALWAYS DO BECAUSE I'M TENACIOUS BUT IT WILL BE A STRUGGLE THAT I WON'T ALWAYS WIN LIKE TODAY AND FINDING THE ASSISTANCE I NEED IS GETTING TOUGHER AND TOUGHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
TOO MANY OF THE CURRENT CROP OF TECHNICIANS HAVE POORER TRAINING THAN BEFORE OR DO NOT HAVE THE SAME WONDER AND WILL TO CONQUER THE NEW MEDIUMS OR HAVE MET DEFEAT TOO MANY TIMES TO CONTINUE THE HARD STRUGGLE TO HELP OTHERS.
As well, too often these days the REALLY GOOD TECHNICIANS ARE IN A MINORITY AND OFTEN BECOME SO IMPORTANT TO A COMPANY THAT THEY TAKE OVER THE DAY TO DAY OPERATIONS TO SUCH AN EXTENT THAT THEY REALLY CONTROL THE IMAGE OF THE COMPANY AND ITS WORKINGS. IF LIKE ADOBE THEY PUT SYSTEMS IN PLACE THAT ONLY THE MOST SOPHISTICATED CAN COMPREHEND OR USE, THEY LOST CUSTOMERS. THAT ATTITUDE CATCHES UP EVENTUALLY.
IT BECOMES A LOSE-LOSE SITUATION FOR THE COMPANY AND ITS CLIENTS. TOO OFTEN THE COMPANY CHOOSES THE ARROGANT TECHNICIANS TO MAKE THEIR COMPANY MORE TECHNICALLY WORKABLE ONLY TO FIND THEMSELVES DICTATED TO BY FINANCIAL IMBECILES WHO DON'T REALIZE THEY ARE DESTROYING THE PRODUCT.
KILLING THE PATIENT WITH THE CURE, SO TO SPEAK.
All this will right itself with time. Technology will like other industries slow some progress to refine others and the whole process will become more comfortable.. BUT..MEANWHILE I HAVE TO GET BACK TO MY TECHNOLOGICAL PROBLEM OF TRANSFERRING MY WRITING TO A NEW VENUE.
SEE YOU LATER.
CHEERS, CONNIE
No comments:
Post a Comment