My copmuter systems are not shaking hands.
I write an amusing travel post for you and go to load up the essential picture, the photo of the food at the restaurant I'm reviewing, or the travel suitcase. A picture is worth a thousand words. But I can't load up the picture. I thought it was because I did not know how to do it. Or the internet was slow. No. I and you and others have had the same problem.
You may have had trouble loading up your photos if you have a new MacBook or have installed new software on an old machine. In the good old days, you were probably able to move photos instantly simply by clicking on the little icon above your draft post, the one with the cute picture of the blue sky, then clicking on pictures, but wherever you search, no photos appear, just a blank screen.
I had moved from Blogger to Wordpress but it didn't help. That's because the new software and your Blog post on either Blogger or Wordpress won't talk to each other. If you go onto the forums you will find that you are not the only person with this problem.
The solution seems to be to move your photos out of the new photo system (with the rainbow petals on a schematic daisy) onto your desktop. Then move them across. From the computer using customer's point of view that's a time consuming, backward step. You have paid a lot of money to install what you thought would be a new system and instead you are worse off than when you were on the old system.
From the point of view of the paying customer, it's time Apple and Blogger and Google and the big boys, and girls, got together. It's no good pretending that it's not our company, not our fault, not our problem.
If you are running a tourists industry, (and a computer is a kind of tourist industry), you want to ferry people from one country to another. It's no good creating a wonderful plane or ferry service when the foreign country won't let anybody from your country land. You advertise your wonderful modern ship. But it can't get into the ports where your customers used to go on holiday.
You land them on a remote island, with no sight of the destination, and no guidance how to get there. (And you have charged them a lot of money.) Some of them will try to get back on the overcrowded sinking little boat (the old laptop with iPhoto, which keeps sinking under the weight or volume of pictures and data.)
Others will shout out you. But nobody seems to be listening. If the makers of the grand cruise ship, admittedly a beautiful ship, although it won't take you to your destination. won't listen, or at least don't admit that they have heard or intend to do anything, what's left for the customers to do.
Get together. Post information. (As I am here.)
Hope that the go it alone experts will come to everybody's aid. Appeal to them. As I am now. Go and work for Apple, Google, Blogger, Wordpress, and solve the problem. If you are in marketing, persuaded your boss that you should contact the other company and do a deal which will benefit both of you.
What if you've tried to get a job with 'the big boys' and failed. Or you are far away from their office, or in another country. You don't have a great cv. Or you prefer to work from home. But you are smart. You think you can solve the problem.
Do us all a favour. Tell us the solution. If you like, if you care more about fame than money, or think fame will lead to fortune, add your name to it. The Fred photo fix. The Smith software solution. The Ali apple answer. The Lim longterm solution.
All those computer geeks who are spending their time doing damage to big companies instead could be doing everybody a favour and and instead of being hidden villains in danger of going to prison they could become popular heroes with the chance of being famous and respected by finding us solutions. Get our photos back up on our travel blog posts. Fast. Thank you.
Then you will have the pleasure of seeing a great picture on my blog posts every day, not just at the end of the day or week, when I've had time to do things the long way round. Yes, I'll come back later and add a photo - if I've got time.
Can you help? Can you spread the word? Can you like this post or forward it? Please do so.
Angela Lansbury B A Honours, travel writer, blogger, author, speaker.
