Oh For God's Sake

You know I hate to admit it, but each day I become more and more of a computer geek.
There are things that I just can't abide. One thing in particular is using computer terms incorrectly. The most common misuse, and the one I hate the most is "I downloaded it to my computer." Now if you understand that last phrase the way it's supposed to be then you know that what it infers is that someone went to a website, server, or another computer and copied a file from that location to their local computer. I can even except that phrase if someone copied a file to a jump/thumb/flash drive and then copied it to their computer(I include all the names I can think of for them, but exclude the ones that make no sense, even though I hear them more often than the correct names.)
What I hate most about this phrase it when someone uses it to mean that they installed the software from a CD to their machine. Let me give you a clear understanding of the difference.

"I was on the website, found the software, and downloaded it to my machine." CORRECT USAGE (even if the sentence is incomplete because you still have to install the software once it is downloaded, but since that is assumed it's OK.)

"I put the CD in the drive and downloaded the software to my computer." INCORRECT USAGE.

OK, I will admit that in some technical way that is still some what correct. If it were still 1996 and we were all still on DIAL-UP. But we're not, and it's been ten years. The meanings have changed people. It makes my job, and by extension my life that much harder when someone uses the incorrect terminology when describing their computer problems to me. If you tell me you installed the program from a CD, then I don't start looking for spy ware and the like. But if you told me that you DOWNLOADED the program onto your computer, I'm going to start looking to see if anything else was downloaded, and INSTALLED with it. This can be a huge waste of time if the CD you INSTALLED from was from a trusted manufacturer and was not loading anything you weren't aware of.

I have, unfortunately, grown to except that when ever someone tells me that they "Downloaded" the software on to their machines that I must ask if they did so from the Internet, or from a CD. However, when I ask a tech savvy person this question I (without fail) get a raised eyebrow and a bewildered look which lets me know they are second guessing if hiring me to work on their computer was such a good idea after all. None the less, I will have to continue to ask this question for years to come for two reasons. One, the terms could change usage again and be once more be inter-changeable. The sad second reason is that even though the generation after my own has had computers around them longer, I can't trust that they know as much or more than I do. I mean come on, Al Gore hadn't even invented the Internet until after I had graduated high school people.

You may be wondering what has prompted all this. Simple. I work from a tech database that keeps track of all the service calls teachers have entered so that I know where the problems are and where I have to go to next. Well one entered today sparked this tirade. It is as follows. See if you can spot what set me off:

"I have 2 computers in the front of my room that I have not been able to use at all because they will not connect to the enternet."

I mean for God's sake. On that note,

On This Date In History:
Martin Van Buren, eighth president of the United States and founder of the Democratic Party, was born on December 5, 1782 in Kinderhook, New York. Just five feet six inches tall, Van Buren earned the nicknames "The Little Magician," and the "Red Fox of Kinderhook" for his legendary skill in political manipulation. Alongside his gift for politics, however, Van Buren harbored a strong sense of idealism that led him, late in his career, to oppose the westward expansion of slavery.

Oh and Little Buddy,

WHAT,WHAT!