So there was a version of Windows that was, shall we say, worse than even the usual low bar. It just made such strange decisions in memory management and file management and people, well, hated it.
Until one artist came around with a way of looking at it that was a total 180. He created one of the first "chans," adorable mascot-type characters, dedicated to Windows ME. Instead of seeing it as deeply flawed and generally unliked software, he cast it as a well-meaning but klutzy little girl. "Oops, I dropped that file you were trying to save!"
I just got off a delightful hour on AT&T's web page, complete with two chat sessions. And it was hit or miss whether I actually completed the transaction. Trust? None. Belief that they know what they are doing? None. Belief I'll actually get reliable internet? Are you kidding?
But, somehow, I ended up doing that same 180. It was one of the last pages that came up, a page just so off both in intent and accomplishment from what it thought it was doing, but so very earnest with the flashy trying-too-hard graphics and web design...it suddenly came across as sort of endearing.
This isn't the evil empire anymore. This isn't Weyland-Yutani. This is their scrappy but doomed competitor in the Alien:Isolation lore, Seegson. Trying so hard but failing so very often.
(Consumer Reports aggregate of customer reviews has them at 1.1 out of 5. Obviously there's a lot of self-selection here...but 1.1?)
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