(Approx. 1,256 words)

Dufferdom
Tales from the Kingdom of the Ordinary User
Of Kicks and Kudos
Written by David D. Uffer, a member of the Chicago Computer Society, Illinois
www.ccs.org
admin1 (at) ccs.org

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above).

There come times in users’ lives when they want to let some experiences out to be shared with others more–or less–fortunate. The intent would be to shepherd toward or warn against having similar experiences. Sort of like a personal Consumer Reports. It may be that other users have similar feelings of wanting to share desires, expectations, and outcomes, to share them here for the benefit of other CCS members. 

If so, it may be that I can persuade the editors of Hard-Copy to collect and publish honest accounts from time to time, accounts with sufficient detail to be verified. If you have joyful or woeful experiences, not opinions, to pass along here, send e-mail accounts to Beata Kernan at admin1@ccs.org for her to transmit to me. Be sure to start the Subject line with “OKK”, from the title above. Remember that she is a sensitive lady of fine breeding who would be put off by raucous or violent comment.

Hail to Nuance, makers of OmniScan
That’s hall as in hailstorms or hail stones. Maybe kick some gravel their way too. I have recently come from repeated attempts to exercise my gullibility. I am mature enough to recall when optical character recognition was a wonder to behold. One could scan a document–-even with an early scanner—and pass the image to one of several OCR programs of the era, each advertising an accuracy rate above 85%. Rates rose and OCR programs dwindled. OmniScan swallowed its major competitor becoming preeminent, outstanding in the field. (Gets wet when it rains.)

It is now in Version 17, claiming another step, just short of perfection and ever more options in access and usage. I was hooked again, hoping this upgrade would solve the non-workability problems of my current version. Though many sources are now digital, there are still times when it would be useful to convert text and graphics on paper to digital media. So I tried to order it, first by e-,mail, then by phone.

My e-mail responses to their special offer were stymied at the final ordering stage by their repeated untrue judgements of false information from me. Repeated attempts to order by phone reached only the famous “All of our representatives are busy...” routine. Exactly the same for Ordering, Customer Service, and Support. Then at the end of their semi-hidden Contact Us option, their Submit command failed to send. I caught on. I was to submit to their impenetrability, unavailable. 

I recalled having similar problems seeking their Support for my current version, then giving up. I’d surmise that their staff, if any, is not available to the public (maybe soggy from the rain). Their strengths, if any, must lie elsewhere, probably in advertising. The phrase, “A plague upon them” comes to my mind.

A Couple kudos to Epson for their Stylus CX7000F
I got this printer-copier-scanner-fax machine to save footprint space and on the sincere, personal recommendation of a salesman at Micro Center, who had recently bought his own and was happy with it. It worked well and reliably for some months, sipping its costly ink cartridges like martinis. It was clearly designed for younger eyes, able to catch its status messages zipping across its narrow display. Older eyes were consigned to 
trek through its ample manual. Finally it developed misfeeds and balky behavior, neither covered in the manual nor explainable by their ever-helpful support team, located offshore in the Philippines. On that final, clear call, clear over to Manila, when the young tech rep was no longer able to find assistance in Epsom’s extensive knowledge base, he set in motion a process which very soon delivered a new CX7000F with instructions on returning the faulty one—all for free. A pleasant surprise. I credit Epson for a pretty good machine and wonderful tech support. 

Kudos to Canon for their MX850 All-in-One        
Canon seems to do well across the board in the ratings games. It’s a dependable choice. My MX850 printer-copier-scanner-fax machine does it all, well, and fast. It has two paper magazines: the usual one angled in back and a second horizontal holder secreted beneath, which can handle two-sided printing. Its 1.5 x 2 inch display is stable, readable, and presents extensive options and instructions so one needs less to read its online manual.

The Canon has five ink cartridges, the usual three colors and a black, all rather small, plus one larger black since most of users’ printing is black. Initial hooking up is well-explained and Canon uses instruction sets which are already provided in Windows XP and probably in Vista, for those who tread there; they are also supplied for other operating systems, including Apple’s, in a furnished CD. 

And then one day, one dreary day as I was struggling with the subtle obscurities of sending faxes with WinFax Pro [and I drop a kick their way too, for non-ease of use], I resumed an aborted attempt to send a test fax and found I was then treading upon an ongoing voice call from elsewhere in the house, a threat to domestic bliss. In panic, my fingers wandered idly over the groups of keys, much as in Sir Arthur Sullivan’s immortal song, “The Lost Chord”. Nothing stopped the beeping nor would turn it off. But that was it: I pulled the last cord. 

Then my marvelous MX850 misbehaved. After a series of off-ons, it settled into a state of reluctant, initially cooperative starts, always turning in less than a minute from any other mode – printer, copier, scanner – into the fax mode, then stalled after a jump and a hiccup. I tried to live with if for awhile by doing starts and quick printing or copying. Unaware that the 1-year warranty was approaching, then at, expiration, I gave up and called Canon. 

The live tech support rep, ever gracious, speaking perfect English, and located in a large support facility in Virginia, diagnosed the problem as corrupted memory in the MX850, which was beyond telephonic repair. So he immediately generated an express shipment, free both directions, of an exchange replacement. Upon its arrival, another tech support rep exercised monumental patience and walked me through reinstallation of the machine and its accessories – and as I crawled along the floor, tracing cables and checking proper connections. 

My MX850 is once again a marvelous all-in-one, though it still has an appetite for new ink cartridges and displays gentle reminders on my monitor of their current status as their need develops. One of the English definitions of (small “c”) “canon” is an accepted principle or rule. From my experience and for me, the capitalized term carries the reputation of highly rated products backed by enviably impressive support. Though it sounds like a commercial, to me, Canon rules. As does the customer. So it should be.

David Uffer is a long standing CCS member with decades of fringe contact with computers, closer as they got smaller. From time to time he recounts his PC experiences here. He occasionally attends CCS meetings when he can, admiring their content and availability. He is shy about e-mail but can be reached indirectly via Beata Kernan at admin1@ccs.org, using “Dufferdom” in the Subject line. ■