My computer is dying.  It is a six-year-old Dell Dimension 3000 running Windows XP Professional.  Once super-reliable and trustworthy, it has become rudely loud and slow while experiencing hot flashes and memory lapses.  It often says adios with the blue screen of death.  I’ve heard one human year equals fifteen computer years, so it is not surprising that my 90-year-old Dell (in human years) is on its last leg.  I am 4 (in computer years), and while we share many symptoms, I am more frustrated than empathetic.  I’ve known for some time that our relationship was ending; it’s time for something new.  (I just hoped my partner doesn’t feel the same way about me!)

Maybe my Dell senses my wandering eye.  I browse the Dell, HP and Apple ads.  I crave something fast, loyal, sensuous, and easy to live with.  But I will be no push-over for a pretty face and smooth body.  My demands will be difficult to meet.  The new computer must:

• Bridge my personal and work worlds by providing connectivity to contacts, calendars, and communication with friends and colleagues.
• Provide a platform for writing, data collection, analysis, movie making, web development, and play.
• Be easy to use, intuitive, and come with a support system that is available, accessible, and affordable.
• Be the center of a home entertainment center that accesses music and video on demand.
• In general, help fulfill my obligations as a stay-home-dad, part-time communication and health consultant, web developer, and budding moviemaker.

The new computer has to fit into our household that is encumbered with an overly complex technology infrastructure.  It includes a Windows 2003 server and wireless networks, two computer-dependent adults (one on a PC and the other on a Mac) and one video addicted 10-year-old.

Since I want to avoid an incompatible human-machine match, in the next entry I’ll provide a home study of our technological and psychological environment.