No matter how many times I upgrade a piece of software only to find that the latest version is no better, or is worse than the previous versions, I still feel the need to upgrade. Even if I’m perfectly happy with a piece of software I’ve been using successfully for a long time, as soon as a newer version comes out, I lose it. I can’t help but imagine all the bugs I’m living with now (whether I run into them or not) that have been fixed in a newer version.
The problem started at an early age. My parents had to upgrade my Packard Bell from 2MB to 6MB of RAM after I spent all of my savings ($99) on Central Point Software’s PC Tools only to find out it wouldn’t run on 2MB of ram. RAM cost $100/MB those days (I have a similar sob story about spending all my cash on a telescope that turned out to suck in grade four, but it doesn’t have anything to do with upgrade anxiety, so I’ll save it for a rainier day).
The problem began to affect my relationships and work as it worsened in the years that followed. It started with a two page spread screen shot of what was then called Chicago (eventually renamed Windows 95 for release) in Windows Magazine. I ogled those pages. I yearned for universal drag-n-drop, the task bar, to run my cursor over those chiselled 3D bevels. I paid $49.95 US for a copy of the Windows 95 beta preview version. It came on 35 3.5″ disks (seriously, I didn’t have a CDROM drive). My system and it’s now paltry 6MB of RAM absolutely crawled under its weight, but it didn’t matter. I had the latest.
Microsoft knows my kind. They pander to my addiction. Their Windows Update feature of my Windows 2000 Professional pops up a little icon in the corner of my screen every time an update of some kind becomes available. Even now, running Windows 2000 (and quite pleased with it), I am tortured by a co-worker who has secured a copy of Windows XP (the unfortunately monikered follow-up to Win2k).
I am a compulsive upgrader. Cost, quality, and reason are irrelevant to me when it comes to upgrades. This very article is stored in SQL Server 7 database when SQL Server 2000 has been out for months. I know very little about databases, and even less about the discrepancies between SQL versions, yet it kills me to run anything less than the absolute latest release (or even better, a beta of the next version).
I know I’m not alone. There must be other compulsive upgraders out there. Maybe it’s not software. Maybe it’s hardware, CDs, clothes. Share with me people.
I too know the pleasure/pain of compulsive upgrading and I have been tortured by the worst enemy of our kind, the MSDN subscription!
Ah the Microsoft Developer Network! Every month I would get a little box of wonders at work. I’ve been using Windows XP Beta 1 for nearly a month now, and it’s great! All the new betas and release candidates and some good tools too! Alas, I no longer work there. I have lost contact with my dealer as it were, and XP Beta 2 will probably arrive this week! If only it wasn’t a couple grand for the subscription I might have one all to myself…the new ones come in a nifty case with hints of the XBox. Perhaps we could start a collection and buy a communal subscription!
XP is ok, but it kinda crawled on my meager p2 400. It looks cool and all, but other than that, there are only 2 things (imho) that make it better than 2k: built in cd burning sw, and built in dvd sw.
just my $0.02 cdn
Hey Charlie. I too am a victim of an MSDN Universal Subscription. I fear the day that I no longer have it. Until then though. I cherish it for all the latest and greatest it provides.
Are we a sad being? heh. I don’t think so. Shall we say; It spills over into our everyday lives. A constant upgrade.
Yeah smartin, I’ve enjoyed the benefits of the CD burning and DVD playing already.
We watched Rattle & Hum on a projection screen. If you can tolerate bono’s preaching, it is a religious experience (and of course any DVD is more enjoyable when watched on a beta version operating system).
I’ll have to pester the suits at work for an MSDN subscription (I need that like I need a ton a Skittles sitting next to my desk).
Many people out there are reaching a point of technological indifference: new machines don’t feel that much faster, software upgrades aren’t all that compelling.
But not me. I actually *enjoy* it. A good upgrade is a little Christmas. This is sick, I know, and the whole process is usually a waste of perfectly good mental energy.
I even run the latest and greatest on two platforms: a Mac and a Win2K box. I’m so far gone, I run OS X *all the time.*
It’s all worth it the odd time (Photoshop 6, Win2K), but for the most part, upgrades (especially software) simply don’t save us time and money anymore.
So stop upgrading, everybody. Me, I’m gonna keep on just in case I miss something…
Many people out there are reaching a point of technological indifference: new machines don’t feel that much faster, software upgrades aren’t all that compelling.
But not me. I actually *enjoy* it. A good upgrade is a little Christmas. This is sick, I know, and the whole process is usually a waste of perfectly good mental energy.
I even run the latest and greatest on two platforms: a Mac and a Win2K box. I’m so far gone, I run OS X *all the time.*
It’s all worth it the odd time (Photoshop 6, Win2K), but for the most part, upgrades (especially software) simply don’t save us time and money anymore.
So stop upgrading, everybody. Me, I’m gonna keep on just in case I miss something…
i agree with kirby’s first post, but i disagree with the second.
Kirby, your point about people tiring of constant upgrades is a good one. My parents have an old Pentium II 200 MHz (not ancient, I know) and it runs a word processor and a web browser without any significant noticeable performance problems compared to my PIII 500 MHz. I wouldn’t want to run Photoshop/Illustrator on it, but for the web browsing, emailing, and paper writing my family uses it for, they don’t feel the need to upgrade. I pity them.
Also, Kirby, I would have deleted your extraneous post if it weren’t for ll coolbreeze’s quick wit.
Maybe Kirby’s second post was an upgraded version of the first.
I can hear the groans from here, I know…
Steve, I wouldn’t refer to a PII as an antique quite yet. With 256MB of RAM, my PII 266 still meets most all my computing needs. I do more than just web-browsing and email too… my PII handles eveything from programming to DVD to streaming video at 300K (http://www.atomfilms.com).
Sure i’ll upgrade sometime this year as prices continue to drop, but rather than trying to be perpetually cutting edge, I strive for the perfectly configured and stable system (an equally elusive holy grail of computing). I want my computer to be transparent so I can focus on what i’m actually trying to do.
Nathan, that just makes way too much sense.
Hey, this OmniWeb browser for OS X is checking my spelling — cool!
Wait a second. If your computer is transparent…
Well, Nevermind.
Men are born upgraders.
WinXP Arrived today.
I tracked it from FutureShop’s Ontario depot to my house through Purolator’s online tool. I went home for lunch and used a pair of scissors to tear the box from it’s plastic coffin. It came with a free OEM version of Virusscan 6.0 and I printed a coupon for 128MBs of free RAM from Future Shop’s website. The RAM will have to go into the older PII in my house because I already took my machine to the 512MB limit in anticipation. (Thank you Robotnik!)
Then, all to quickly, I had to go back to work. The glossy green box waits for me to get home tonight…only 2 hours and 15 minutes left…
As I was leaving I spotted the flyer from today’s paper telling people that they could line up at Future Shop tomorrow morning to be the first to get WinXP…it made me smile…My name is Charlie, and I am a Microsoftaholic.
I was a software upgrade junkie. Well, I’ve smarten up. After a few upgrades that made my PC slower, even after upgrading the PC itself, I stopped. I still look out for upgraded software for new features that I need. Used to be I’d take ANY new feature whether I need them or not! In fact, sometimes I just buy the new version but never really installed them because by the time I have some spare time to install them, a newer version is already out!
Well, to put it in restrospect, friends who maintain government PCs in my country said that quite a few departments are still running Windows 3.1 (no.. not even 3.11) with MS Office 4.0. Hehe. And that was in the year 2004! Imagine that… Most university graduates today had never even heard that there was once a Windows with no taskbar…