Shanghai - I was waiting for the bank to open the other day and a middle-aged lady started chatting with me, telling me about her visit to Tokyo and how much cheaper the Google Nexus was to the iPad Mini in Japan. She was toting an iPhone 5 but happily told me about her 32 GB Google Nexus. And then she started talking about her 800+ dollar ASUS laptop which she used to replace her HP laptop which died after 2 years of use and the 6 year old Thinkpad she had before that. Finally, she told me how frustrated she was with Windows 8 and asked me advice on how to use it.
All in all, I was impressed with this woman. In the ten minutes we talked, she summarized the state of the consumer electronics and PC industry. She accurately described the dependability (and fall) of HP portables, demonstrated the market penetration of the iPhone to consumers and testified to the affordability and usefulness of Android and tablets. And of course, she gave firsthand stories of the frustration of adapting to Microsoft's change of paradigm. What really made me admire her was unlike other Windows 8 users who complain loudly on the Internet, give it 10 minutes and chuck it away, she was fair in her admonishments and didn't return the ASUS laptop because of the OS. She was willing to learn - which is more than I can say for a lot of whiny spoiled users out there.
I found out she was in her late 40s, had a few grandchildren, liked Tokyo Disneyland, and visited church every Sunday. She probably doesn't read Ars Technica, Wired, Phoronix, or Engadget but her chatter illustrated just how technology has changed the technical aptitude and interest of normal, everyday people you wouldn't normally associate with being interested in tech. I didn't give any Unsolicited But Offered opinions about Windows 8 and wished she had brought her Windows 8 portable along just so I can teach her the Windows+D shortcut (arguably the most useful shortcut on Microsoft's controversial desktop). She was definitely not in the IT industry (she was a secretary or PA for a furniture firm), so I was tempted to give her secrets to the upcoming Windows Blue just for the fact that she showed more technical aptitude than most people in my department. Moreover, it took all the proportionate strength of a gerbil not to give her my LiveUSB Linux Mint and let her give it a try.
Before I left the bank, I thanked her for her company. She asked me one last question: "Do you think the Sony NEX 3N has a big enough sensor for fireworks at Disney World?" Now, I'm still toting a 4 year old point-and-shoot and can barely afford the lens cap of an ILC, but all I could think of was "Damn. How things change."
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