Software Updates
As part of our increasing dependency upon software, we have also grown accustomed to its associated foibles, especially the negative ones. Today, I upgraded my blog from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1 and my PC operating system from Windows 10 to 11. I started early in the morning and ensured that all my personal data was backed up. My default expectation was that both processes would go wrong in some way, shape or form. Let’s take a moment to consider this mindset, which is born out of experience. It is now taken as read that whatever you upgrade, be it an app on your phone or a program on your PC, that it’s going to be problematic. It won’t be a seamless transition and you’ll end up having to do some sort of troubleshooting. Despite our lives becoming more dependent on such software, the quality of these products seems to be deteriorating. What a sorry state of affairs.
Setting aside the failures of the tech industry, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that both upgrades went well, with no major fallout. With regard to Contains Moderate Peril, I am quite happy how individual posts are displayed. I just need to determine whether from now on, I can include images that scale to the width of the page (but display at full size when clicked on), rather than having to set them to a standard resolution. I also have to fix the main blog page, as it is currently showing each post in full, rather than just the first paragraph along with the option to “read more”. However, these are not deal breakers. The site is still functional for both PCs and mobile devices. Similarly, the Windows upgrade went well. I was interested to see that some of the formatting aspects of Windows 10 were carried over and as a result, I have not had to excessively tinker with the visuals of Windows 11.
Oddly, because things appear to have gone relatively smoothly, I cannot help but feel somewhat disconcerted. Mainly because, as mentioned earlier, we are so used to things just not going to plan these days with regard to the software we use. Hence for the next few days, I will remain prepared for some unforeseen technical issues to manifest themselves. If they materialise, so be it. If they do not, then it’s an added bonus. Hopefully, there’s nothing else on my PC that requires a major update, for the immediate future. That being said, I rebooted my phone earlier today and it has obviously installed an Android update. I only spotted this when I received a phone call and was furiously trying to swipe upwards to answer it. Turns out I now have to swipe to the right. Oh the pleasure of software upgrades! The tech companies obviously think that daily life just isn’t interesting enough.
Roger Edwards