Then I pulled out more hair trying to get Win98 to not crash for an hour stretch of time. In the end, I have what is in some ways a cutting-edge system, but I'm going to have to spend even more time and money to try to get it to do some of the things that Linux could do easily and for free, like IP masquerading. All of that is what I hate about technology. To sum it up, I think I can say that I love the promise of technology, but I hate the execution, which so often falls far short of the promise. If technology worked the way it was described to work, I would be so in love with technology that my wife would have to worry, which brings me at long last to my point, and I do have one.
Technologists are incurable optimists.
We believe in predictability and consistency, two things that are very rare in real life. We are greatly disappointed when things are unpredictable and inconsistent, and greatly surprised. Obviously, developers of technology are surprised, since they rarely seem to have tools or contingency plans in place to deal with unpredictable or inconsistent events. As an incurable optimist, I think I see the positive aspects of technology. Since it is frustrating and annoying and inconsistent and irritating, I often walk away from it to gain perspective on life.