60-Second Window #172

The Technology Poor

by Fred Showker

My Uncle Johnny used to have this saying that always brought a laugh, but was almost always not funny. This particular occasion happened to be a holiday party at my father's house. After a wonderful meal we were enjoying drinks around the pool, watching the stars begin to decorate the western sky -- during a lull in the conversation -- Uncle Johnny made a long sigh and said to the amused audience:

"I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight?"

That saying popped into my head last night, some thirty years later, while I was attempting to install some newly purchased software. I wanted check out the new "Page" software from Apple and had rushed the box home to install it on our new iMac. To my great alarm, the software installer was stopped dead in its tracks. The error dialog said "You cannot install this software under this version of OS X." Cold. Blunt. I clicked the "Continue" button. The next dialog informed me that OS X version 10.3.6 was required; and then politely quit. End of discussion.

Undaunted I logged into Apple's web site to grab the update. It couldn't be that far away; my new iMac is already running OS 10.3.5. There was no version 10.3.6, so I clicked on the 10.3.8 update as all good Mac users should do. Feeling quite a bit like a Windows user -- and quite shocked -- I read the resulting download progress indicator with disgusted rejection: "11 hours, 22 minutes and 31 seconds remaining in download." Apple had me -- they required an update nearly the size of a CD. Downloading over our rural telephone lines will be sketchy at best -- usually dropping the line after about 30-minutes of ftp.

A quick call to Apple confirmed this fact - the kind fellow at Apple confessing that the only way to obtain the upgrade was to download it. His voice was smug yet apologetic; as if he were denying a hand-out to someone begging for food. "I cannot help you... " he said, but it felt more like he was saying: "...poor people are not welcome here."

While pondering my predicament, I realized the popular phrase "Digital Divide," is really a polite way of saying "Technology Poor." It's the technology poor vs. the technology rich. Apple fully intends to keep it that way.

Some people are poor by situation and some people are poor by choice. In my particular case I happen to be technology poor by choice -- deciding to build my house in the pristine beauty of the backwoods of Virginia rather than some city. But it's a trade-out: no cable, no fast internet, no satellite reception -- dial-up only.

During my recent visit to Kampala, Uganda, I witnessed the other kind of technology poverty. People there are begging -- crying -- for computers. The bulk of the population simply can't advance without them and the training that goes with them. Yes, some volunteers are doing all they can -- but it's like a tea cup against a tsunami.

After last night I can fully appreciate why they said "No Macintoshes." You can get help with Windows machines, and pick up software for a few bucks on the street without an umbilical to fast internet. Obviously Apple doesn't want market share beyond the city-rich in the U.S. and other highly developed countries. The rest of the world can't afford to buy them nor upgrade them.

I'm happy to report however that back in my office this morning with cable internet the download was a quick fifteen minutes or so. Now PAGE is now happily installed on my PowerBook, with a freshly burned CD full of installers to carry home -- or to give to the technology poor should they ask.

Isn't it really a shame you can no longer rely on your computer's integrity longer than a few months. Isn't it too bad technology has bloated itself beyond the 50-cent diskette? Isn't it a real shame that most of society will be barred from enjoying today's technology -- and that no one really seems to care.

So, the next time you enjoy a quick download upgrade, or you're grooving to those freshly downloaded tunes on your new iPod, just ask yourself:

"... I wonder what the poor people are doing tonight?"

Thanks for reading...

Fred Showker
 
      "Let us be thankful for the fools.
        But for them the rest of us could not succeed."
            Mark Twain

best choice Technology and Social Inclusion :

Rethinking the Digital Divide

Much of the discussion about new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a "digital divide." Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education, and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and the United States.

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