It’s been years since I have written a “tech talk” post, however, this doesn’t really count as one. In fact, this is probably a bit more like a SoapBox. The latest fad in tech is Chat GPT and OpenAI. I work in tech but I have not so much as performed a Google search for Chat GPT. As a programmer, I love automating simple tasks in my life but it’s overcoming challenges that help us grow. Asking an AI to write something for me is not something that needs to be automated. Chat GPT and OpenAI are making the world a lazier place and contributing to the decline of society (which began with social media).
We already live in a world where there is an entire generation that doesn’t want to do anything for themselves. They feel entitled to everything without doing any of the work to earn it. I’m surprised they have the brain capacity to articulate what they want Chat GPT to write for them. The fine art of creative writing and composition has been cannibalized. Chat GPT and OpenAI will make lazy people lazier and more fraudulent.
I’m going a completely different direction for the August Top Five. Technology. It’s pretty well known among my peers that I am Microsoft’s biggest critic. While I do make a living using their technology that doesn’t mean I drank the proverbial kool-aid. Granted even Apple and Google have had their technical slip-ups but their list isn’t quite as embarrassing as Microsoft’s. The lesson Microsoft seems to fail to learn is that just because someone else is already doing it doesn’t mean they can do it better. X-Box is about the ONLY success story. I digress. Here are my top 5 epic Microsoft fails.
I am behind, to say the least. I guess I try to do too much in a day and when there is time to work on these projects, I often don’t feel like sitting in front of the computer. There is also the little problem of the SD Card reader I bought to use on my main PC to install the Raspberry Pi software. It doesn’t appear to be working properly. It is either that or the SD card I am trying to use has gone bad. Either way, it’s a huge roadblock!
“I’m putting myself to the fullest possible use. Which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do” – HAL 9000
Everyone knows the old idiom “Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You”. It is often used in the context of criticizing someone or some place that helps and/or pays you. It is also often used against me when I’m on one of my Microsoft tirades. Yes, the majority of my job requires me to use Microsoft tools and technology. I think my years of experience, however, gives credence that my rants are not “biting the hand that feeds you“. In my opinion, it’s “biting the hand that’s punching you in the face”. I am going to pick on Microsoft again to illustrate my point because they are the easiest target. However, to be fair, any of the big tech companies can just as easily serve the same purpose.
Microsoft has created or caused in my life. These are the times when I have had that old proverb quoted at me. After working in the industry for over a decade, I think I have earned the privilege to speak my discontent. I have been on a huge rant about Internet Explorer lately because I think that is Microsoft biggest mistake. If they had followed the same versioning model as younger browsers then perhaps IE wouldn’t be the most hated browser in the industry. The fact that I have to try to code around 8 different versions of IE but only one version of Chrome and Firefox makes me hate my life. Edge was their second biggest mistake; hello re-skinned IE. Obviously Microsoft thinks we’re all a bunch of idiots.
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do”
This coming January will mark four years since I started using FitBit’s fitness devices. During that time we have seen the rise (and fall, in some cases) of other wearable tech devices; Apple Watch, Pebble, Microsoft Band (**snicker**), Garmin. While FitBit wasn’t the first company to create a wearable they certainly figured out how to be a catalyst. A couple of weeks ago one of my co-workers told me FitBit wasn’t doing as well. Today I noticed their stock has been steadily declining. Perhaps the era of the wearable has plateaued.