A Duh Moment

Hi Everyone:

I consider myself computer literate, but by no means a computer wiz. A few weeks ago, my wife and I got a new Dell computer. As I was unpacking the machine, I found a card, about the same size as a CD/DVD. It said Do Not Discard twice on the front. So I took time to read it. It was from Microsoft and the card turned out to be the activation key for my Microsoft Office 2010. The card stated to visit microsoft's web site, so I did.

I don't know how much time I spent trying to download office 2010. No matter what I did, the download didn't work. Clicking on Help wasn't any help either since I still couldn't download office. Becoming very frustrated, I called Dell for help. Yes I spoke to someone in India, (I always ask what country I called), but I could not only hear them very clearly, but I could understand every word he said. That is a miracle in and of itself. Anyway the tech told me to click on the paper and pen icon at the top of my screen. Voila, Microsoft Office 2010 starts to download. That was a real Duhhhhh moment for me. The card I had was indeed the activation key for office which I had to enter. I thanked the tech and I told him that I felt so stupid. He told me that it happens all the time now with Windows 7 and also because you no longer actually receive a disc from Microsoft. You just get a Product Identifier card with the activation key code, all 25 or 27 digits.

A few days after receipt of the computer, I got a call from Dell asking me about my new computer. I told him that all was fine except for the problem with office 2010. I told him that the card stated to visit the web site. I then added that the card should have one more sentence included, telling you to click on the pen and paper icon to start the download. He appreciated my comment and thought it was a good idea and would pass it up.

To me, my common sense says that Microsoft should have included that one sentence and then my experience would have been without a flaw. Oh well, live and learn.

Til next week.

Peter