Item Number: Accessing a hotmail account on a PC

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Accessing a hotmail account on a PC

Off late I’ve got a lot of sniggers for
a) the fact that I'm still using a hotmail account when the world has moved onto Gmail.
The other day, when I rebelled to being the only one who didn’t receive a friends roka pics, all I got was 'arre yaar you have a stupid hotmail account. It bounced' A kind of ‘third world country’ treatment in account land!
I can’t seem to forget the days when internet was a novelty. I spent hours in an internet cafe, paid through my nose, constantly refreshing the page in failed attempts to open an account. A HOTMAIL ACCOUNT. Can’t just let it get terminated.

And b) my curls straightening out within half hour of using a Mac.
I HATE IT! Why can’t it be as simple as a PC or at least, get me a mouse along with a dictionary of shortcuts. 20 yrs on a PC cannot be unlearnt by fingers in a min or hours or days. It takes time Ok?!
Please explain why can’t you still have the right click option? Cut/paste reduces font size automatically. Now, I could right click and reformat but nooo! I have to spend the next 20 mins playing treasure hunt to find the bloody command. Where’s backspace?
One slip of the finger and the Mac pukes up a foray of icons at the unsuspecting user. I can almost hear it snigger too. Where's the thesaurus btw? And you can't choose ‘the correct spelling’ by a right click!
I know Mac users swear by it. But then you may also be the kind who have moved on from hotmail.

Someday.

3 comments:

GargoyleJanuary 14, 2009 at 4:52 AM
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GargoyleJanuary 14, 2009 at 8:09 AM
"As simple as a PC"...? Right. Now that I've stopped laughing.

What you need to unlearn is years of abuse. You don't have a right-click because you don't need one in a sane world. A Mac is intuitive - things are where you would expect them to be in a normal, logical world.

A computer is a tool. A tool should help you work, not be work in itself. This is the principle on which Macs are made.

But the PC works on the exact opposite principle, which is why simple seems complicated to you now.

Some tips to begin with:
1. For everything that you used the "Ctrl" key for on a PC substitute the Apple key. Eg: Apple+S = Save
2. If you ctrl+click on a Mac you should get some "right-click" options.
3. Apple key is officially called the Command key
4. Command+Alt+R = Thesaurus and dictionary
5. Backspace is where it is on any normal keyboard
6. It pukes up icons when you hit one of the function buttons (F1 to 10), not sure which one exactly. The icons go away when you click outside them.
7. Anyone who tells you Hotmail cannot handle photos is just making excuses for having forgotten to copy you - they've upgraded Hotmail accounts to 5 GB.

Whose Mac have you stolen?
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AnonymousJanuary 14, 2009 at 9:54 PM
You sound like the type who would fall into the 'moved on from hotmail'category. Ah! wait...
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About Me

Ok, so I’m 5ft 9, about 139 pounds, big greenish brown eyes, long curvy lashes, a curvier body, soft curly hair and an electrifying smile. This impression exists in my head…and now in yours.

It’s not because what I look like makes me uneasy, but this is the number that I’d like to turn up in, someday.

Hence, the ‘Item Number’. A lot many maybe familiar with the term and all that it implies but for the ignorant read on…

I’ve always associated myself with the term ‘Item Number’ which however until recently was a phrase loosely used in Bollywood to describe a filler, a foreplay before the formidable act, a thesaurus for sleazy dance, an excuse for skin show (not always attractive).

All that is now the past. With cinemas growing sensibilities, the stigma attached to the phrase no longer exists and in fact, is now glorified by a list of A grade celebrities gracing the screen with their special performance, adding glam value to an otherwise submissive script.

However in spite of the recent but growing respect, the meaning of the phrase ‘Item Number’ has never changed for me. An item number is an exhibit out of the ordinary plot line, sometimes provocative yet necessary, it sometimes lends itself to the situation but other times it’s forced. It’s long enough to make you smile, but short enough leaving you longing for more. Sometimes special. Sometimes over the top. But never subtle.

I believe, if we search deep inside, we all yearn to be an item number (yes even you!)

It’s the longing to be special. To be provocative. To be able to tease ones boundaries. To be different. To be the one. To make people sit up and notice.

If only for an hour, if only for a minute or even a second.

When you hear the crowds cheer (even if it’s just in your head), respond to every appreciative/envious glare with a radiating smile from within, when you know the stars are shinning in this moment, only to make you look brighter, and you almost throw your hands up to the universe miming a big ‘Thank You’ that’s when you know you’re an Item Number.