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May 02 2012
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Life, Opinion, Technology

Microsoft won’t take my money

Microsoft won’t take my money, and won’t let me buy their product. Here’s my story:

I recently bought a new Mac. After being with Windows since ’95, I wasn’t giving up on them – I would still consider myself a Windows user for some things. But other things, are just nicer on a Mac, and some software I use is only available on the Mac. So I bought a Mac. Not the cardinal sin, is it?

In any case, one day while using my Mac, I needed to write a report, and do a presentation. Now, I know that Apple makes their iWork software, but I’m an Office guy through and through. I visited the Microsoft site, found their Mac section, and promptly downloaded their trial of Office. Since I was in a rush, and didn’t have my credit card ready, I figured it was the easiest way to solve my problem at the time, to just use the trial.

Of course, time went on, and I kept using the trial. Again – not the cardinal sin. Then, one day, I opened Word and discovered what was going to happen eventually: my trial had expired. No big deal, really, because I already knew I’d be buying the software – this just meant that I HAD to buy the software. So I got up from my desk, went to get my wallet with my credit card, and came back to click the “Click here to buy serial online” button on the Office window on my screen.

That lead me the Office web site, where I filled in my information, and went on to attempt my purchase. It processed, and …. failed.

“That’s weird,” I thought. “Perhaps I put in the wrong expiry date, or entered a number wrong.” So I tried again – this time taking extra care. It processed, and … failed again.

“Wow, I really must need new glasses,” I thought. So I tried a third time – same thing. So my immediate reaction is that there’s something wrong with my card. I checked my online bank, and the balance and everything there was fine, so I called the card company. A great guy helped me out, and assured me that nothing had been charged to my card, and everything was working fine on their end. So what next? Well I guess I should call Microsoft.

Now, I think it’s safe to say that everything you expect from this, is what ended up happening, but indulge me anyways. A man with an accent picked up the phone, and I began to explain my situation. He said there must be something wrong with how I typed in the information, or something wrong with my card. I explained that I had tried three times, and just got off the phone with the card company – there’s nothing wrong.

Then I told him what web site I was on, and he said it was the wrong site. I explained that it was the site I was brought to by clicking the button in the window that explained the trial had expired. Didn’t matter, apparently - here’s a new web site. I went there, and got FORWARDED to the same URL I was on previously. Apparently that was supposed to make a difference. He asked me to try it one more time, so I did, and once again, it failed.

He was confused, because it really shouldn’t be happening, he said. I asked him could it be my browser – since I was using Chrome. He had a revelation.

Of course it’s the browser! “Chrome is no good for online purchases – it’s just for checking email and watching YouTube,” he said. “You should try Internet Explorer.”

Keep in mind, now, I’m buying Office for Mac. Thus, I’m probably on a Mac – of which Microsoft stopped making IE for in 2003. I explained this, and he said of course, I was right, he meant “the other one.” I said “Safari?” Yes, that’s what he meant.

Safari = failed again.

At this point I ask him is there any way I could make the purchase over the phone. He said not at the number I had called, and the sales department was now closed. I gave him my information, and he said someone would call me back within 24 hours.

Here I was, then, without Office, without hope of completing my work, and without much hope left in the people I’ve been giving money since 1995.

Two days later, I got an email, asking me to contact MS Customer Support so they could assist me in my purchase. At that point, I really wasn’t in the mood to give these people money, so I decided to let ‘em sweat it out. By this time, I’d already downloaded OpenOffice, which wasn’t the best solution, but it did the stuff I needed it to.

Yesterday, though, I finally decided I was over my bitterness, and I was going to go ahead and purchase Office from Microsoft. I called the number they gave me, and discovered that customer support was closed at that time.

Hem.

No matter – they’ll be open soon enough. I went on through the work day, everything went relatively fine, and I didn’t let it bother me much. The next day (today) I realized that I STILL didn’t have Office. So I finally called Microsoft up one more time. Another gentleman with an accent answered the phone, and I began to tell him the story.

He informed me that the problem was with the bank – not them. “That doesn’t matter,” I said. “I just want to make a purchase over the phone.” He asked where I was from, and I told him Canada.

They can’t do phone orders for people in Canada.

So here I am, frustrated beyond belief, peeved to the core, and still have no Office on my Mac. The whole purpose of this post is to describe that it wasn’t for lack of trying. And to offer a plea to Microsoft: Please take my money!

Side note:

The Office serial purchase on the MS web site costs $119.00 in the USA. It’s $129.00 in Canada. I’d also like to point out that the Canadian Dollar is doing much better than the American Dollar right now – so according to the Bank of Canada, $119 US dollars is actually $117.90 CAN dollars. Not only can I NOT buy this software – I’m even paying too much for it!!

Update:

My immediate response to my problem was to download Page from Apple. It allowed me to work on what I needed to work on, but wasn’t ideal. A trip out of town has warranted me opportunity to get Office in the brick and morder store. I went to Staples and bought a copy of Office there. I ended up getting the CD as well, which was useless to me, but at least I got it now.When I put in the serial I had a 110MB update to download as well. Oh the joys.

Mar 20 2012
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Life

Mainlanders can’t solve our problems

Back in the 1960s in the Southern United States of America, there was a man who rose up to stardom amongst a movement that was sweeping the world, in relation to racism and civil rights. That man had something that many before him did not – for he wasn’t the first to attempt what was known as the impossible and improbable at the time. But yet, he used his advantage to the best of his ability – sharing with passion and vigor, the very thing that no one in the congregants of onlookers could take away from him:

His first hand experiences of the evil beset against the people he was trying to help.

See, try as they might, and do what they will, it was virtually impossible for a white person to solve racism. Why? First, because many white people just read that sentence and considered it racist. Second, because it’s impossible to know the solution, if you don’t have a clear grasp on the problem.

Martin Luther King, Jr. knew what the problem was, and equipped with that knowledge, he set out to fix it. History speaks for itself, what can be accomplished when someone knows what they’re doing.

Link that now, with an article that recently appeared in the New York Times Magazine. It talks about Fogo Island, and the work that Zita Cobb is doing over there with her Shorefast foundation.

If you’re a Newfoundlander that has lived in the province all their lives – especially the rural areas – then you’ll probably be slightly disgusted by some of the stuff the writer has to say.

He makes observations, analysis, comparisons, and comments that, rather than showing his taste and wit, show his complete ignorance to the place he’s come to visit and write about.

The article is written in a way, that if someone read it and had no idea where Newfoundland was or what it was like here, then they’d suspect that it’s comparable to the streets of Calcutta, India or something. In fact, the author even goes so far to say that the island could be considered to be in 1825, based on the infrastructure, and way of life.

Are these the same idiots who ask if we have running water here?

Also through the article, we learn a bit about what this Zita Cobb woman is doing – and it isn’t painted in a very flattering light, if you ask me. Zita is portrayed as a stinking rich person who left business and came back to buy the island she grew up on. She did this by going out and dishing out money in a way that normally only Governments can do, and building things that will hopefully bring new life into a “dead” island.

I found it hilarious how one woman actually had the nerve to suggest that the town should ask Zita to build them a swimming pool, because they really wanted a swimming pool. Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t this really just sound like Zita has become a personal bank to the people of Fogo Island?

How long before they pronounce her Queen of the island? How long before they descend into anarchy, renouncing the Government altogether and pledge their allegiance to the mighty Zita?

Probably no time soon, it seems like.

Apparently there are a few on Fogo Island that aren’t too fond of what Miss Cobb is doing. In fact, they feel it’s drawing some unwanted attention, and publicity to the otherwise quiet little solitude they’d normally enjoy. Typical.

Typical of what, you ask? Typical of the average mainlander who comes to Newfoundland and Labrador, feels we’re broken, because we’re not like what they’re used to, and tries to use their knowledge and know how they attained while away to ‘fix’ us.

Now, I’m not going to say that we don’t need fixing, because goodness knows we have our own fair share of problems – but going back to the greatest civil rights leader to walk the planet, we learn that in order to fix a problem you have to know the problem first hand before you can fix it.

Coming back to your home province a couple times a year or even moving back after years of away, doesn’t always constitute you as a professional of our problems. In fact, most of the problems we have are a result of mainlanders coming back, trying to fix us, and shagging things up even more.

We need someone who can rise up from within the ranks – someone who knows the issues and who has the passion and the drive to take it all the way.

We need a dreamer. To take us to the mountain top – to new heights we’ve never known before.

White people can’t fix racism – and Mainlanders can’t fix Newfoundland.

Mar 10 2012
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Culture, God, Life, Opinion, Writing

A bandwagon predicament

I have two things I need to admit and make clear right off the bat:

First, any campaign, effort, attempts or movement that seeks out to stop an evil dictator doing terrible things, is a good thing and should be supported.

Second, when I watched the video for Kony 2012, I was inspired, fired up, amazed and wanted to do something about what these people were talking about, just like everyone else.

Although, I quickly discovered that I was jumping on a bandwagon because much of the reason I even watched this video, albeit reluctantly, (lets face it – it’s a half hour long, and who has that kind of time outside of primetime TV viewing?) was because everyone I knew was talking about it, and the thing went viral overnight.

I quickly realized that while I felt the message and the main purpose (not all the purposes) of the campaign – and in turn the video itself – were valiant and noble, and worth getting behind.

However, it didn’t take long for my analytically somewhat warped mind to quickly refocus on not just the video and the campaign itself, but rather the effect and the overall impact it was having on people and society as a whole.

One thing we can’t deny about the video is that it’s well produced, well directed, extremely well edited and had a fairly high budget according to public financial records from the organization that put it out there. For that reason, it’s bound to draw people’s attention, because it stirs with emotion and tickles just about every sense we have.

The problem that we’re discovering now, though, is that the people who the video is supposedly setting out to help, are coming out in droves and speaking against it. Some have said that the video is 10 years too late – that this is nothing more than a bunch of white guys trying to become famous on the backs of the poor and oppressed.

What bugs me most about it, though, is the amount of Christians who are coming forward and supporting this campaign because ‘it’s what Jesus wants us to do.’ You know – rise against evil, stand up for the ‘least of these’ and do what we can to make a difference in the world.

News flash, people: Jesus told us to do that long before YouTube did. And that’s what really peeves me off about it. Is the video good? Well, outside that it’s a one-sided, slightly biased propaganda machine, then yeah, it’s great. Is the campaign trying to do good? Yes, it is. But we have to remember that Joseph Kony isn’t the only problem the world has. He isn’t the only evil man that kills a lot of people in the world. He isn’t the only one who does unmentionable things to innocent people for his personal gain.

He’s just the only one with a high budget YouTube video.

So the question: is Kony just a bandwagon? And even is he is, does that eliminate the fact that we should be doing something about it and trying to evoke change?

The answer is simple: yes and no. The problem with Virality is that the video will be gone by the wayside in a month, and everyone will be moved on to something else. Will Kony be captured by then? Maybe. But probably not. Although one thing will still be the same, no matter what happens.

We will still be faced with a generation that would rather be inspired to invoke change in the world based on what a YouTube video says, than what the Bible says. Someone loan me a $150,000 so I can make a video about that, please.

In closing, I like what this girl has to say:

Nov 23 2011
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Life

I suck at blogging, but I’m trying again anyway

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve tried to do this, I’d have at least … well … not much. But still, I’ve definitely been down this road before.

Attempting a blog.

One time I was fairly successful. Another time I was semi-successful. This time? Well, I guess it remains to be seen.

In any case, here’s to trying this one more time. One more kick at the can. One more … well … you get the drift.

Please leave comments and the like, because that makes me feel good. I like feeling good. Then again, who doesn’t?

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