Patience, Second Chances & Letting Go

I gave it everything I had. I gave it a second chance. I put my trust and belief in it all this time. When others were saying 'to hell with it', I soldiered on, hoping that my faith would prove fruitful one day. And as they laugh at what they can't perceive, my loyalty went unquestioned. Until yesterday.

Sure it'd be easy to ditch something not entirely correct or effective or efficient for something that works like a dream. In fact, that's simple economics. A situation is inefficient if a change can be made in which at least one party will be better off, but none will be worse off. But just because something, some aspect of our lives is lacking--is inefficient--does that mean any change we do to correct it would render our life efficient?

Enough with the jargon-y bullshit.

I try my best to keep things simple; to not have third parties involved. Up till yesterday I used IE7 because I use Windows and would like everything as Microsoft as can be. I couldn't care less about speed. It loads just fine; a few milliseconds doesn't make that much difference. If it was lagging or reminiscent of the line-by-line days of dial-up, then that'd be a different story. Then there is that flash plug-in problem that crashes IE at least twice a day. This usually happens when I open a flash-heavy site like Facebook or Soccernet. Sometimes, new tabs just keep opening nonstop and I'd have to terminate IE using Task Manager. I haven't the slightest idea if that's the flash plug-in's fault or if it's just IE's stupid programming rearing its ugly head, but everything would be better if I had Firefox or Chrome or Safari.

So it was that yesterday I updated to Internet Explorer 8. Microsoft released it after months of beta testing and announced that it was faster than the others. And it (as have other Microsoft updates) rendered my sound card useless/undetectable. And my processor; all three cores. And some PCI controllers. And the monitor. I open Device Manager and there's an exclamation mark beside all of them; Error Code 37, can't load driver. How can you not load the driver for your processor?
And that was the last straw. Not only has IE been slower, it's buggier and takes up more memory, and now it fucks your system up. Now I'll have to reinstall Windows and we all know the effort and time that'll take.

And what's worse is that IE8 is supposed to be better than the rest. If Microsoft could be bold enough to claim it's the best one out there, they should put their money where their mouth is. But alas, we all have our limits. I have stayed true to my words and supported their proprietary browser/software ever since the early days of IE vs. Netscape. I only stopped using Windows Media Player because my dad gifted me an iPod. I did, though, give IE one last shot for old time's sake: I opened up Yahoo! Mail (YM tells me IE8 is optimized for Yahoo! but only with their freaking toolbar installed) in hopes of the "Set Y! Mail as default webmail" option (a fix that leads all "mailto" links straight to your webmail client). And how did that work out? I was disappointed yet again. Of the millions you put into the R&D, you can't spare a thought for the millions who use webmail.

So there it was that I ended my 13-year commitment to IE and jump ship to the only browser that stands out for me, Firefox, but only because it's the only one that can direct any "mailto" links straight to Yahoo! Mail.

Loyalty is rare these days. People outgrow everything so easily, as do these things outgrow us. You cannot expect people or computer programs or cars to be perfect or squeaky clean or everything you want/hope them to be. We all make mistakes, and we should, of course, expect others to fuck up every now and then. And we forgive them, pat them on the back and say "chin up" and smile so they wont feel bad. But if people have the grace to treat us that way once we let them down, responding by plunging ourselves into even deeper shit is just not cool. Loyalties always come bundled with a commitment--something, when made in our favor, is a measure of people's faith and trust in us. So why fuck them over when they duly defend you, when they are your confidantes?

Yes, I changed my mind. Many of you who have given me stick for being loyal to what I ultimately gave up would surely have a field day at my change of allegiance. But note this: I stayed true to my words, I gave it my all, I gave it a second chance, I stuck by it through thick and thin. I gave it up with the knowledge that this is an avenue I have truly exhausted. I have no doubts about my decision; none of those "what ifs" running through my head.

How many of you Firefox-obsessed assholes have jumped ship to Chrome or Safari at the behest of their perceived superiority or speed? How many of you who are literally in bed with a Firefox right now would jump ship if it merely started being as shit as you say IE is? Have a little sentimentality for something you believe in. That's what makes us human.