Wrestling

Monday, 21 May 2001
Perplexed I stare at the photocopier. All I want to do is to make a copy of a simple sheet of paper.

The machine prattles something about paper size detected. Huh? Just create a copy, please! I get annoyed by machines with an abundance of features.

And a copier should be able to copy a simple sheet of paper.

In the end I manage, with some assistance from an engineer who happened to walk past. But the copy is a bit too dark. Can I have it a bit lighter, please?

A second quest starts, this time looking for the feature to produce a lighter copy. Finally I spot a little row of grey tones.
         
That indicates what? Should it be set to reflect the tone of the copy, or the original?

Of course Murphy's law applies. (.../murphy/...). The second copy is even darker than the first. The third copy is reasonable, good enough. I abandon hope to get a better result from the machine. And of course I immediately forget how this feature works, so next time it will be a repeat of exactly the same wrestling match.

Grr. A device like this

Wrestling with such a device reminds me of the differences between the men from Mars and the women from Venus (www.Bol.com/...).

Are photocopiers perhaps designed by women? (io.com/...)?

Till next week,
Nut