Google who gave us all Blogspot has threatened to replace it with New Blogger, though not immediately. Reactions have been predictable: rage extending to giving up blogging altogether.
My previous post, Un Mauvais Quart d'Heure, referred to this but left readers confused. For just over a day, due to unrelated reasons, my blog disappeared. Eventually I restored TD but during that period I had time to reflect on doing without it. I didn't like the prospect.
Is New Blogger as perverse and cruel as everyone appears to believe? The answer is yes but only if you ignore the very simple procedure for starting from zero. Instead, I leaped onto the - let's say - fifth floor, and made a right cock-up. Imagining I could somehow bend Blogspot into new Blogger. Can't be done.
Swallowing my pride I discarded the rubbish and followed the manual. To keep myself interested I embarked on posting a short story to convince myself the techno-stuff was worth the efffort. I've been busy recently for other reasons which will be revealed, but I think you'll agree that embryonic, click Tone Deaf Renewed, looks more or less like its ancestor Tone Deaf.
Why? I refuse to be caught short when Google loses interest in maintaining the deliciously euphemistic Legacy Interface (ie, Blogspot as we know it). More details later.
I did what I always do and ignored the threats and warnings. So far, no new blogger for me. I will carry on and keep calm...
ReplyDeleteTom: My suggestion was supposed to evoke the poetic swan metaphor: beautiful and graceful on top, feet thrashing vulgarly below. Thus public Tom remains calm and well-dressed, a genuine boulevardier, while private Tom scrabbles at his computer through the night preparing for the browser apocalypse. And thus again, on the day Old Blogger is wiped out by New Blogger, public Tom is seen to be effortlessly competent. Go on, you'd like that, wouldn't you?
DeleteIt's really nothing to get worked up about. Maybe think of it like a new model of your favourite . . . car, frozen dinner, smartphone, coffee maker, or, you know, just another free gadget software.
ReplyDeleteSabine: I take it none of these trinkets mean anything to you. Alas, most of us are doomed to pass our bottom-feeding lives without either Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull or even Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften on the bedside table. I feel ashamed I was tempted into such a trivial pursuit as exploring New Blogger, despite the fact that others like me were worrying about NB's onset. I intend to write out "I must, from now on, be serious" a thousand times before retiring to hog-slumber each night.
DeleteI think I may explore the new format and hope that it's as easy to use as this one that we've been using for years and years. I wish I knew why Google is doing this.
ReplyDeleterobin andrea: Old Blogger is easy to use because of our familiarity with it. A bit like walking. Think how you stumbled and wobbled between 9 and 15 months (I've just looked that up); compare then with now when you could - if you put your mind to it - walk from northern California to Misquamicut Beach (RI) without falling down once. Cast your mind back to your early days with Old Blogger, when you sweated to get your widgets in order, and diddled around with your header. Imagine how smug you'd feel if you secretly absorbed New Blogger behind closed doors and then emerged - the chrysalis turned into a butterfly - knowing every last thing about this skill which others were still trying to acquire.
DeleteWhy is Google doing this? Google is a very large wealthy US company. How did it get that way? By being terribly kind to its customers? I don't think so.
Saving this for later. I'm a WordPress guy. I even ask to notify me. Thanks
ReplyDelete