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Computers as Roommates (An Aside)

This note has nothing to do with food but I might as well get it out of my system. I've been living with my desktop computer in my bedroom for a few months. I've found that computers make for mediocre roommates. Sure, they let you watch streaming video whenever you want and they don't leave any dirty dishes around. But they keep calling attention to themselves in rather unflattering ways. Does my computer really have to wake me up in the middle of the night? The latest incident was created by the software HP installed to check for hardware bugs. When it started up, it turned on my two screens, which throw quite a bright light. That was enough to wake up up and try to figure out what was going on. But Vista itself is even more rude. My automatic updates run in the middle of the night so they don't disturb my work. But updates that require a reboot not only turn on the screen, they also put out the little Windows ta-da. Isn't that a little like announcing that you're going to the bathroom? I think that all software designers should be required to sleep with their computers.

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