With every fiber of my being, I LOATHE software that requires a hardware "key" (known as a "dongle") to operate.
Because I am forever losing the damn thing.
Today I had a critical project that I couldn't complete because I lost the dongle I needed for the program to work. This meant I had to rip apart my office, my car, my apartment, and everything I own in an attempt to find it. For three hours I was tearing my hair out in a feeble attempt to find a tiny piece of plastic that had no intention of revealing itself. Eventually I gave up, slightly more insane than when I started...
Once I got home from work, I finally managed to find the stupid thing in one of my suitcases. It was hidden in a back-pocket where I missed it the first time I looked. I was so happy that you'd have thought I'd found the freakin' Holy Grail or something...
So now I've got my dongle back and all is well in the world.
But not really.
My web hosting service is down, AGAIN, which means that I can't tell the world about my troubles.
Stupid internets.
Could be worse though. I could have been Hillary Clinton in tonight's Democratic debate. It's as if she suddenly decided that she wanted to confirm all the negative things people say about her. And then there was Obama... rising above it all to give us his calm, cool demeanor that was so presidential I could almost feel him as our nation's leader. If anybody watching it was on the fence as to who they were voting for, they're in Obama's camp now.
Argh. Time to go play with my dongle.
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The cartoon freakout was worth it though I’m having trouble deciding if that’s you or Hillary 😉
Can I play with your dongle too?
Damn…you would think I could come up with a joke about “dongle” but I got NUTHIN’!
They still make software that uses those damn things? The last time I saw one was an ancient version of Quark. Those things are just ridiculous.
I hope you enjoyed playing with your dongle.
He, he…dongle. What a great word! I have so much to learn. Have fun with your dongle.
Dave, me wuvs ya, and thinks you are the hottest guy on the internet, but what the hell is the “internets”? Is there more than one? I didn’t know that. What am I missing out on?
Last time I used dongle-requiring software, it was a pbx call center programming tool that cost us near $100,000. I wasn’t surprised they required the hw key. We ended up putting the dongle on a server in the data center and using remote desktop.
We did this because it used to be on a developer’s desktop and when the person upgraded their desktop, the *threw the dongle away* because they “thought it was some printer cable adapter”.
We spent $2500 to get a replacement dongle.
That’s what I kept thinking. How stupid could Hillary be. Let’s show the world you’re a mean spirited bitch. Oh, and that women can’t control their emotions. For Pete’s sake.
And Obama? God his debating was just brilliant. BRILLIANT! I’m not suggesting that’s why you should vote for someone – but personally I was drooling over his technique.
And I had my first presidential sex dream ever last night. 🙂
I’m disliking modern technology, as well.
Care to join me over a campfire with some flint-knapping tools and a spit with some mammoth meat?
Did I spell “knapping” right? Who knows…
But getting to use the word “dongle” over and over has to be a bright spot, right? No? That’s just me? Ah well…glad you found it!
The word “dongle” always makes me giggle…it just sounds vaguely dirty.
I’m glad your server came back – I was worried about you last night! I’m not addicted to checking your posts or anything…
Just don’t break your dongle. I hear that’s bad.
If you’d keep your Dongle in one place, you’d always know where it is. I know exactly where mine is.
We’ve been going through the laborious process of decluttering and organizing the whole house. I think we’ve located all the dongles. Judging by the location of some of them, I suspect conspiracy perpetrated by the cats. Damn them for disorganization!
Maybe Hillary lost her dongle or never had one in the first place…
Love your blog…and the fact that this one is about dongles makes it even better. I do customer service for a major software/hardware manufacturer and cannot bring myself to say “dongle” to a customer. Just makes me giggle way too much!
I’ve never misplaced my dongle.
Of course, I have never had a dongle to misplace.
I want a dongle. [pouts]
Can I borrow yours?
I promise to return it right after I find the damn thing.
Any word that starts with DONG is ok by me.
So, “Hide the Dongle” sounds like a great game for bachelorette parties or something. Glad you found yours, though.
Dongle… dongle dongle dongle!
It IS a fun word to say… kinda like “smock” and “nostril”.
Ok – you showed me your dongle, I guess it is only fair that I should show you mine…I must warn you that while yours is long, mine is incredibly thick…
You know that someone somewhere is still laughing about being the one to name those things “dongles.”
And here I thought I was all sorts of down with technology…. I’ve never ever heard of such programs! I would absolutely lose the darn things!
You should be more careful about where you put your dongle.
😉
One of the programs in the video editing lab here at my school is Avid. It requires a dongle to work, too.
One time, a kid came up to my co-worker and asked why he couldn’t use Avid. Turns out someone took out the dongle because they thought it was a flash drive!
Reasonable excuse. They look similarly enough alike to be mistaken!
Hillary is still pissed off about Bill’s dongle.
I love DONGLES… that is all, and you cannot convince me otherwise. Dongles are awesome 😉