Windows 98 still going!
I saw a rare PC the other day… It was running Windows 98.
The customer was using dial-up internet, and was using the PC mainly to write a book, and to send/receive emails.
Now, I was called out because she could not get the specific emails she was expecting or any others.
As I suspected, the emails were timing out because there was an inbound message with a large attachment.
Given the limited knowledge of this customer, explaining how to use a web browser, and then logging into her webmail account in order to delete the large emails, was just not possible.
I could see that even explaining the relevance and relationship between Kb and Mb was going to be near impossible.
So now the customer could get another friend inadvertently send her large attachments, and the process will repeat itself.
The solution is to get broadband… but to get Broadband, you need a new PC that can make the most of broadband speeds.
So now the customer is in a strange situation, where, if she wants to receive large attachments, she needs to upgrade her internet connection, and buy a new PC.
I enjoyed reading this post. You seem to be a very good at problem assessment and problem solver.
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I use WinME with dail-up and have had no problem with large attachments. One trick for those who DO: if you’re using gmail for example, log into the MOBILE version http://m.gmail.com where you can bypass all the “Buzz” and other nonsense and go right to work!
PS_Luv your blog!
I have also had some visitors that are using windows 98 and can’t understand how they can wait so long but if they are using tactics as viewing mobile versions of sitesthen it is still possible
I sure hope she was using K-Meleon as her browser and not something old and outdated.
I have an old PC on the other side of the room that was my main computer for the better part of 2008, when my P4 died (I couldn’t afford to replace it). It’s a 266mhz, 64mb ram, 33.6k X2 modem, and it’s running WinME.
It really put me back in touch with the plight of some people in this world, and renewed my commitment of not abandoning them in the software I develop, if I can help it.
If your customer has the patience, a slow computer on dialup can still download large attachments, but it does require a change in the way you do things. If she has been using a desktop email client, she should switch to webmail and use a download manager to retrieve her attachments.
Or (and I hate to give this as advice because it uses IE) she should use AOL, which provides a download manager in their desktop client (should use v8.0 or older on old slow computers), which allows you to still do everything you normally would do while your attachments are downloading, including receiving new mail. It can also be paused when you want to disconnect from the internet, and can be scheduled to automatically log on and resume while you are sleeping.
If you are having trouble explaining the difference between kb and mb to her, a visual aid like a spoon, a cup, and a drinking straw might help. Tell her the spoon is kb and the cup is mb, and the straw is her connection speed. How fast and easily can you pour a spoonful through a straw compared to a cupful?
A newer computer would allow her to throw away the drinking straw and get herself a broadband garden hose.
And yes, the plethora of mobile sites is making it possible for owners of older slower computers on dialup to keep using their machines, just as effectively as they did 10 years ago. It was one of the tactics I used when I was stuck on my old PC. (having my own desktop on a friend’s pc, running 2008 server, and connecting with an RDP client, running software on his that I couldn’t run on mine, was another tactic I used…and it was WONDERFUL!)