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Back in the days of Vista, I tried digital photography, and chose a Logitech thumb-ball for “pot-processing”. I felt it was more precise. It worked for me. And I still prefer it over a mouse or a touchpad or a touchscreen for everyday activity. For me, the thumb-ball also allows me to change the position of my arm. Sometimes I sit back in my chair, stretch my back, and place the thumb-ball on my thigh.

I only use flip phones too. Couple years ago, for two-factor authentication with OKTA, I was set-up with Google Authenticator and a QR code on my PC. On the other hand, for another network, a smart-phone (web-c0nnected) phone was required because of some Cisco requirement. I prefer flip phones because my only use case is telephone service. For computing, I want a mouse and a keyboard – primarily, for file management and editing. I once had a tablet, a Jornada by HP, and I have two Spectres – all had/have touchscreens. I thought I would learn to use the pen on the Spectres, but I never find the time to learn how to make it useful. I hope 4G remains available in my area.

For me, computing is editing files and refiling. To me, the last 2-3 years have reinforced my perspective.

To me, computing can not be avoided. But at the same time, much of the internet is not of interest to me. The environment and players are more interesting to me than the apps.

Therefore, I have avoided smart phones, but due to variations in phone reception, I carry two flip phones from two different providers – TMobile and Verizon. It’s seems to be lower cost.

Why no smart phone? Mainly because of the touch interface and what I want to do on a computer. First touch interface was an HP Stream 8. Both my laptops have touchsceens and touchpads, but after trying to change for over two years, I’ve gone back to the Logitech thumballs. At work, to be compliant, I use the company-provided mouse.

I was on pager 24×7 365 days (except for vacation) for more than 10 years. To me, mobile telephony is like a pager. Mainly because I am not much of a telephone person.

So I need a laptop or desktop – adult-size display and workman’s keyboard and fine-tuned mouse and local storage, to find, edit, rearrange, and restructure my digital things. It’s what I want to do 85% of the time.

For that, the touch interface is too hard.

Thank you. Happy Sunday.

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Nibbled To Death By Ducks, wdburt1

I try to separate my data from the operating system and the programs also. My practices are more about content than programs – operating system or application programs. Over the years, on my personal machines, I do less custom configuration. And work more often with basics like Windows Explorer or Perl.

I guess that puts me in the Backing Up, not the the Cloning, camp.

Firefox is my preferred browser. I associate it with “personal computing” and “open source”. I don’t use Gmail because I have been using yahoo mail – for years, because of flickr.com. I have nothing against Gmail – but I do prefer to support open source Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird, Open Office, and Perl 5. I guess “personal computing” dates me. I guess “open source” dates me. I wish Mozilla could figure out a way to depend less on Google Search.

Happy Holidays. Stay healthy.

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Fabled, Northwest Rick