Technology update was frustrating

Editor’s note: This column is being reprinted from Dec. 1, 2004. The parade of technology continues whether we like it or not. Twenty years ago, Jack was working to solve one tech problem. We’re currently in the process of considering a computer upgrade, as our current machines are about a decade old.

The temptation is always there.

Why not, I ask myself, just let the parade of technology go on without you? Just let the next “rev” of software pass you by. Just let the next new gimmick or gadget do its thing without you.

And, to some extent, I give in to the urge.

For instance, I have no desire to own a cellphone, though there are two at our house. And the idea of taking pictures with a cellphone strikes me as silly, though I admit to having had my picture taken by one.

But when it comes to computers, the urge to let the parade pass by can have consequences and create complications our forefathers never dreamt of.

For the past two weeks, the complication has been something called Adobe Acrobat 5.0, the version for Macintosh computers.

It seems that more and more of the ads e-mailed to the newspaper as attached files were created in the 5.0 version of Acrobat, while we still lag a couple of generations behind. There have been countless headaches for the composing room and the ad department as a result.

Okay, I responded, when I learned of the problem. We’ll just get a copy of Acrobat 5.0.

But, as computer users the world around know, nothing is ever that simple.

It seems that the Mac version of Acrobat 5.0 isn’t being sold by Adobe anymore. The company’s pushing Acrobat 6.0 for Macs now. Unfortunately, 6.0 doesn’t run on the same computer operating system we’re using. Our Macs, for the most part, use the 9.2 operating system; but 6.0 will only run on OSX.

If that last paragraph sounded like gobbledygook to you, rest assured that I feel the same way.

In short, we’d become obsolete.

There were two potential solutions. We could upgrade every Mac in the building to OSX and spend a fortune upgrading every other software to be compatible. Or we could go looking for a copy of Acrobat 5.0 for Macs on eBay.

At first, even to an eBay novice like myself, it didn’t look like it would be a problem. The software was available. In some cases, it had been bought by mistake and was still in the original wrapper. Others appeared to be “educational” versions which were probably handed out as free samples. There were even versions in Spanish and French.

But eBay is an auction web site, and making a purchase can be a little cumbersome the first time around.

I started bidding without really knowing what I was doing, putting a bid in too early and not establishing a firm maximum amount I was willing to pay. Meanwhile, thanks to the intricacies of the eBay system, it was easy for everyone else in cyberspace to see that I was a rookie bidder.

Not surprisingly, I was outbid by someone with more savvy the first time around. And the second. And the third. I was beginning to wonder if eBay had a special section for slow learners who were new to the process.

Finally, I started to get the hang of it and also started to get an idea of what I should be prepared to pay if I was actually going to solve the ad department’s problem.

Last Wednesday night about 10 p.m., I hit paydirt, closing the deal at what appeared to be a good price.

The software arrived Monday.

Will it work? I don’t know.

All I know is the parade can go on without me for a while.