Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst, Gartner, surmises that 80 per cent of the time he wants to be involved with his gadget right from the installation process. Be it installing or tailoring a gadget to suit his preferences, Chakraborti happily embraces do-it-yourself.
What was the last gadget you bought for yourself? How did you install it?
When I bought the Netgear wireless router recently, it came with a detailed and step-by-step instruction manual. From setting up the router with the help of the included pictorial representations, the manual even gave what could be the likely error messages if I was not going about the installation in the right way. It didn’t contain any technical jargon, so I found it easy.
Do you usually install gadgets yourself?
In most cases, I would rather install a gadget myself. For some complicated gadgets, like my home theatre system, I did take help. I have found through experience that most electronic gadgets that you can buy in the market are easy to install, so long as you read the manual carefully.
What is the one thing you have learnt from gadget manuals?
With a photo printer, I realised that photographic paper can give much better results than a professional photo studio might offer. This I found out while reading my printer manual. Similarly, in the case of the wireless router, after carefully reading the manual, I also found out how to secure my Wi-Fi connection without having to seek a technician’s aid. The manual told me what kind of area I should keep my router at to maximise the bandwidth of the Internet connection.
Do you have any interesting gadget-installation stories?
It happened when I was installing a router. My notebook was unable to read the router signal, and I couldn’t rectify it. Soon I realised that my wireless radio (on the notebook) was switched off. I had to press the function and F5 keys to set it right. While I fiddled with the router, I figured that I could connect my mobile phone to it. My phone is GPRS-enabled and can be used as an Internet modem. Now, instead of connecting it to my PC I can hook it up with the router when my MTNL connection is down.
What’s next on your do-it-yourself list?
I would love to run Windows OS on an Apple machine. As you know Apple has its own operating system, OS X. I am keen to run Windows 7 on an Apple notebook.
