Re: Off topic: Need cheap new laptop, any suggestions?

[Wendell Cochran atrypa@xxxxxxxx]

As Bill Troop says,

'Never offer any explanation for a malfunction, or it will be used
against you. Deny any possible accident. . . . [A]ll manufacturers
will try to worm out of their warranty obligations. . . .'

Not only in hardware. About once a year I have trouble registering a
password for a remote service, always (as far as I can tell) because
of something unpredictable like a peculiar private limit on number of
characters, or a non-standard ban of a certain punctuation mark.

All too often (once would be too many), any inquiry however polite
incites the sysadmin or help deskee to mulish obstinacy or even macho
rage. The victim has no recourse.

In the most recent instance, a technotwit denied me e-mail contact
with my own physician.

Observe the power at a single point of failure.

Wendell Cochran
West Seattle