I've discovered a compelling argument for gun control.
It's called Windows 8.
For the Bounty project, which will require scores of interviews, I decided it would be smart to replace the laptop that I got, used, when I joined Soundings Magazine in 2005. It's a good old wagon, but it's about to break down.
So like a thoroughly modern man, I went to the nearest big box store -- Best Buy -- and found a modestly priced Toshiba that looked like it would work. I didn't know a thing about the operating system and, had I asked, it would have meant little to me when they said it was Windows 8.
I asked for the Microsoft Office software, which boosted the price by about one third, paid the bill and went home.
Turning the machine on was as simple as pushing a button. There ended the simplicity. I needed help just to find the machine's "desktop". I called the 800 number. The fellow (not in Asia but in Florida, I think) tried and tried to help me before he told me to take the machine back to the store.
At the store, a man who seemed knowledgeable and competent spent about 45 minutes trying to show me how Windows 8 works. Then he said: "You're just going to have to get used to it," even as he looked at the glaze on my eyes. He told me I had to move ahead with the times.
The experience was similar to what you might feel if you walked into a Chevy dealer (or pick any brand) and said: I'd like to buy a new car, and the salesperson replied: Sorry, we don't sell cars any more. You're going to have to learn to fly a jet.
Another example: Your alarm sounds in the morning and the first person you encounter -- maybe your wife or husband -- is speaking Russian, as is everyone else whom you meet that day.
Suddenly, the language of computers with which I'm familiar has been replaced by something that's entirely different, that shares nothing with the Windows XP that I've been using or even with Windows 7.
I took the Toshiba to customer service and returend it. Late last night, I found a Dell computer on amazon - new -- that I could buy with Windows 7 installed. It's supposed to be delivered during the week.
But there was a time at Best Buy when, had I access to an assault rifle, I would have repelled the digital assault that was being inflicted on me and taken out as many computers and computer sales people as there were bullets in my magazine. And I would have felt (momentarily) justified.