Post Modern Geek Sensibility
by Andy Trask

If you know only one thing about geek culture, you probably know that we geeks simply cannot resist getting our hands on the latest and greatest technologies. Whether hardware, software, or gadgets, we go to great lengths to be the first to try out something new, often going into seclusion for days when a coveted new gadget arrives. Although this obsessive behavior is something that can strain an ordinary relationship, our spouses and families generally put up with it because they understand that geeks must have new toys to stimulate the imagination just like plants must have light and water to stimulate photosynthesis. Well, as a geek, I have a confession to make...

I am not always in a headlong rush to throw out those older technologies in favor of newer ones. Oh sure, my 35mm SLR Camera is gathering dust on a shelf while my digital camera does triple duty at soccer games, little league, and school band concerts, but would you believe I still have a 486/50 running Windows 3.11? (If that sounds like gobbledygook to you, the i486 Processor was the final hurrah from chipmaker Intel before the introduction of the original Pentium chip in March of 1993, and Windows 3.11 was just a shell Graphical User Interface running on top of MS-DOS). So why would I have this slow old machine still hanging around? Well, certainly one could suggest it's because I'm a geek and have a natural interest in collecting technologies with a historical significance to my industry, but in reality, there is a different, far more practical, and far less geeky explanation.

It works. Yes. You read that right. The answer is " It works." With early versions of Microsoft Word and Excel loaded, and a perfectly well functioning Hewlett Packard Laserjet printer, it is an ideal tool for my younger kids to play games like Freddie Fish or Putt-Putt, and is equally suited for the older kids to bang out homework assignments. Ideal even because it lacks connectivity to the Internet (not that it can't be connected mind you… I am a geek after all!). But with no Internet connection, working at that machine means that when one of my kids sits down to write a paper, there won't be any distractions from Email or Buddy Lists or Instant Messages. No chat rooms, no pop-ups, no lengthy music searches and downloads to distract from the task at hand. Just a simple computer performing some of the most basic functions that computers were originally designed to perform.

Okay. Reality check. Yes, I am still a geek, and yes, as a lifer in the personal computer industry, I do get nostalgic over some of those "ancient" technologies from ten or twenty years ago, and no, my kids aren't deprived either. They all have their own modern computers connected to a home network and sharing a Broadband Internet connection, but there's no denying that the old 486 tucked away in the corner of the playroom still has some life and some usefulness even a decade after it came home.

So think twice before you decide to send your old computer equipment to our already overstuffed landfills. Because if that old computer is still functional, even if slow, it may be a boon to a local school, church, charity, or camp who just needs to be able to bang out an occasional document, print a mailing list, or give a kid a place to play a game. Now I hope you'll excuse me because my new Whizmotronic 9000 gadget just came in and I have to run off to my workshop to check it out!

Andy Trask is the Head Geek at Geek Housecalls (on the web at www.geekhousecalls.com). Based in Lexington Mass, Geek Housecalls provides computer hardware and software troubleshooting, networking, installations, upgrades, and general assistance to residential and small business computer users in Boston and the surrounding North, South, and Western suburbs as well as Rhode Island and southern New Hampshire. If you have a question or topic you'd like to see addressed by The Geeks, please send email to: agtm@geekhousecalls.com

If you're interested in reprinting this or other articles from this series on a website or in a printed publication please contact Andy Trask at andy@geekhousecalls.com for information about our liberal sharing policy!

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