My user experience with Microsoft is not different from millions of other unfortunate souls, I know, but in my case I am edging closer to writing a book about it.

Presently I have no e-mail because it is tied into MS Outlook, but the new Windows XP, which yesterday replaced the Windows ME, apparently does not recognize the MS Office 2000 I had been using, which apparently contains my MS Outlook and my MS Word. I won't bore you with details -- you've all been there and done that, which may be the reason Microsoft is the most reviled company in the world.

The MS system is prompting me for various product serial numbers, some of which I no longer have. Obviously Microsoft wants me to buy more software. But buying more product is not a solution because in their infinite wisdom Microsoft has decided that they no longer support their old stuff. The whole problem I have is that I cannot work without the old stuff, which by the way is the reason I stayed on Windows ME after XP came out.

Besides, how many times does a customer have to buy the same product from one vendor. Take MS Access for example. Thinking it would be good for my business, I once lined up to buy it the day it was introduced, but it turned out not to meet my needs. Then a couple years later, when I couldn't find the box, I bought it again for the programmer of my algorithmic trading system. Then I bought it again -- or actually a temporary contracted employee purchased it for me and took the action of registering it to herself. I finally gave up; three times is enough.

But OPI is starting to get to me.

Judging from a couple thousand e-mails, from readers across the world in about 70 countries, I know I provide a useful service. In spite of difficult personal circumstances, I have in fact persisted through lazer spam and virus attacks that have targeted me, and through hardware issues that caused me to upgrade and re-learn techie stuff that does not interest me in the least, and through software issues that required me to change websites and build a new one.

Yes, I have persisted. But, I am a one-person operation and am rapidly approaching the point where I say, "Stop the world, it's time to get off." As this website and blog is a gratuitous exercise, there are no offsetting revenues, so all the burden is just a personal drain, which has been adding up, and right about now I'm feeling drained.

It's nice to think that society can empower itself -- and goodness knows I advocate that -- but is that being pragmatic? Is anything free?

We live in a dysfunctional world for a reason -- actually, for multiple reasons, all of which boil down to a single issue, which I call OPI, or Other People's Intentions.

Here's a tiny example: I now have a new keyboard. It is identical to the old one except for a single change. This manufacturer -- I suppose to evade patent rights -- has switched the "delete" and "insert" keys. Every other key on the keyboard is the same. So, in the few brief hours I have been using this system, I am making one mistake after another, every minute in fact, and I will continue to do so, and be frustrated, until I re-learn the new keyboard system.

The stupidity of it all.

It reminds me of the rural town I used to live in. The provincial government and the federal government have different systems, which impact the few people in that town. The post office, being federal, spells the town "Frazerville", and the post office, being the only real building in the town, contains that name on its large sign. But on a roadmap, and driving through the town, on the provincial highway, the town sign says "Fraserville," which of course is right in front of the post office sign, spelled differently.

For what possible reason is the spelling of a town name legally different except that somebody with the authority to control us has decided to use that power against us.

But the point I'd like to make today is that unless we consume products from the right (I'm being sarcastic) corporations, or pay taxes to the right authorities, we are constantly being harassed.

Who gives the bank we use, for example, the right to call our homes at dinner hour to say they are making a "courtesy" call, when they know, and we know, that it is a sales call, and our behavior while taking that call is predetermined by our need to be nice to our banker. "They" have the upper hand, and they use it.

With respect to technology, the "rich user experience" we are promised is never received. That harassment wears us down until, eventually, we do it "their" way.

Life is like that. The distractions, harassment, and noise we in society face in just trying to meet our own intended goals and objectives is something to behold. And President Bush talks about freedom? From whom?

One year I was hosted to a lunch for new members by the Investment Dealers Association of Canada, and I explained to the people what my real job was, which, as CEO, was to clear the path of obstacles so that the real workers behind me could stay on the course I had set for them. Otherwise they would be distracted by OPI, and our mission would fail.

As security traders, you too face this challenge. OPI stands between you and your dreams.

There are days like today, with my own issues and a winter storm driving a foot of snow through the city, and my computer system not working properly, that it's just best to call it a day.

Some days all of us just have to admit, we're not going to get ahead -- or even keep up.

BCara@BillCara.com

p.s., if you send an e-mail, I'll have to read it later. :-)

p.s. #2, I am starting to receive e-mail that I can read but somehow cannot respond to. But, the message I am getting is disconcerting in that today's blog was my attempt to get something off my chest, and not an appeal for financial resources. I could, for example, have advertising on my site if that was an objective. This week, for example, I was contacted by a couple big name brokers and by the advertising agency of another asking if I was interested in advertising them but I am not -- unless it's co-promotion.

I just want to write because it's something I like to do, and I like to help people when I'm in the mood to do that. As for the system I use, I'd have taken it back to the shop today except that we are now being hit with the worst storm of the year, so it's not possible.

I'll get it fixed and start writing soon, maybe even before it's fixed.

p.s. #3,

I'm hitching the huskies to the dog sled and taking my system back to the store. The techie says my problem was his mistake as he was rushing last evening at 7pm closing time. His store is open from 11am to 7pm, or I would have been there earlier.

I'll be back in a couple hours.