Maybe I’m overreacting, but I’m really hacked off about my father-in-law’s PC. While visiting him in Las Vegas last week, he asked if I’d upgrade his operating system from Windows 98 to XP. Those are the kinds of requests I don’t mind, even if I’m on vacation.
(Before I go on, I know you’re wondering, so let’s get it out of the way up front. In Vegas, I’m the opposite of a “high roller.” I was there for three days and the only bit of parlaying I did was on a Nickel slot machine. Luck was with me, however. Within five minutes, I hit on a triple-golden something-or-other and made a cool eight bucks, which I promptly cashed out and exchanged for a Philly steak and cheese at the snack bar.)
Jon is a really decent guy who understands that my employment at Microsoft does not imbue me with complete knowledge about every product that Microsoft has ever produced. Furthermore, to his great credit, he has come to grips with the fact that his only daughter actually chose to marry me of her own free will. He hasn’t called me “Meathead” for years.
Jon doesn’t ask much. On occasion, he’ll call to request help with the odd error message, or to ask advice about some third-party software. His current PC came off the retail shelf about four years ago, fresh with Windows 98, a 10GB hard drive, and one of them newfangled recordable CD drives. The upgrade went smoothly, and all of Jon’s applications seemed to make the trip ok. The problem came when we tried to backup some files onto his CD drive. Before the upgrade, this function worked fine; afterwards, not so fine. Jon’s backup application choked because there was “No updated driver installed.” Now, a missing driver is not usually cause for great concern. I explained to Jon that plug-and-play hardware is designed to run independently of the operating system, and when a new OS hits the market, the hardware maker typically writes short programs called device drivers that enable components to make the upgrade journey with their bits and bytes intact. Take printers, for example. Back in the old DOS days, each application included drivers for all the popular printers and you just selected your local printer from the list. Pushing the company line, I told Jon how Microsoft now includes all printer drivers with Windows, making life easier for him and his family, a point which they ought to genuinely appreciate. He gritted his teeth and quietly reminded me that I was part of his family, a point which I ought to genuinely thank the God of Abraham and Elijah for.
Anyway, we tried finding an updated driver for Jon’s CD drive through the regular sources — Windows Device Manger, the drive maker’s website, Google — and found nothing. Turns out that National Semiconductor no longer supports Jon’s Mediamatics CD drive, and, while the company expresses its regrets, it will happily assist him in purchasing a new drive should he ever find himself in the market.
There’s no happy ending here. While Jon’s CD drive is in perfect condition and will faithfully read any CD you feed it, it fails to record anything. Faced with this reality, I outlined a few options for Jon: backup to a floppy (too limiting); buy a new drive (too expensive); subscribe to a web storage account and use it as a backup drive (even more expensive); split the hard drive into a Win98 partition and a WinXP partition, and only use the Win98 partition to write to a CD (too cumbersome).
I’m not sure what Jon’s going to end up doing, but it irks me that he has to do anything. All the guy wanted was a new operating system. He knows he’ll eventually have to upgrade his computer and components anyway, so he’ll probably just bite the bullet and buy the drive now. I feel partly responsible because I’m the one who did the upgrade. I should probably buy the drive for him, you know, as kind of an “upgrade gift.” Sony has a decent one for about sixty bucks.
Sixty bucks… I better try a Quarter slot machine this time.
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