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To ADSL or not to ADSL
24.07.2002
That is the question.
In the course of my career as a translator and copyeditor, I've been seriously confronted, bombarded, and confounded by two decades of technical developments. And now it's ADSL! What I enjoy most is working with words. All I really want to do is create terrific English copy from (sometimes less than terrific)Dutch copy. Despite the fact that I'm not the least bit interested in the nuts and bolts - the hardware - of my profession, I've always jumped on the bandwagon pretty early on...
It wasn't quite the Dark Ages when I first set up my translation agency. I mean, I did have an electric typerwriter. From there, I moved on to a word processor with tiny "floppy disks" that were only compatible with themselves. About the same time I became one of the first kids on my block to have a fax!!! My clients didn't even know what that was. Most people called it a facsimile back then. I felt very clever indeed.
But the world was on the move and I began getting pressured by clients to get a "real" computer. I delayed as long as possible and then took the plunge. MS DOS, Word Perfect 4.2 and away I went. Happily upgraded to 5.1 and beyond. Now I was ahead of my clients .
Then technology tried to beat me again. Modems, E-mail,Microsoft Word, Pentium whatever... Those were tough times for me. But I struggled and won. And discovered I could still create perfect English copy most of the time. I was on a roll - and have now rolled right into Professional XP with Pentium 4 (I think!).
Great! I figured I had my working life under control. Until ISDN was "the only way to go!" Okay, did that too.
Now... ADSL. Should I get this? Do I need it? Is the initial expense worth it in the long run? Does it matter if I can shave minutes off my on-line time? Maybe, if it means spam arrives faster so it can be deleted... Bottom line: I don't know if the game is worth the candle! ADSL fans say yes! Can't live without it. Improves productivity, etc., etc., etc. I really don't know whether I should invest in this or not. And it is a sizeable investment. All arguments - pro and con - are welcome.
Meanwhile, I'm thinking ...
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