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Smart applications not always so smart

Hi.


Most of us are becoming well aquainted with, and even to the point of depending upon, "smart" devices and "smart" programs for our daily activities and business dealings.


And, these smart devices and smart programs have made a big difference in our lives.


However, I've come to realize that many times, these smart devices or smart programs are anything but smart. In fact, they have begun to become rather aggravating, to say the least - doing more or less what they seem to want, not what we essentially ask for.


My latest experience along this line is my experience with Safari operations on my macbook pro.


For the longest time, I've not used Safari as my browser. I had used firefox for the longest time. Then, when having some issues with firefox operation (sometimes becoming sluggish in response time, etc.), I opted to delete firefox from my computer entirely, and returned to using safari.


Now, I'm located geographically in Saudi Arabia, but as English is my mother tongue, and the vast majority of my internet (and other computer) work is in English, I prefer my browser and search engine to be in basic English mode. There is every once in a while I may search for something in particular in Arabic, but when I do, I simply switch over in the language field, and do the search in that language. But in general, I have all of my settings on English, and prefer my browser and search engine mode in deafult set to English.


When I changed over to Safari, for some reason, even though I've gone back countless times into the settings pane to make sure, the browser default mode as well as the search engine mode comes up automatically in Arabic style, and presents to me selections of Arabic, even though I've typed in my search in English. This is the smart aspect of Safari, picking up that I'm in Saudi Arabia, and selecting this mode for me, on my behalf, even thought my settings are set to preference of English, not Arabic.


In addition, Safari is insisting on giving me the default search enging of Genio, even thought I've already deleted it complete from my system, and have gone through all proper and necessary steps of completed shutting down and restarting, and then also resetting Safari to factory settings...still it is giving me Genio as default search engine, even though I've consistently returned to Safari preferences settings, and ensured the Google search engine is selected as default search engine (Genio is not even on the list of possible search engines to choose from).


Hence, I've gone (once again) to the extent of re-downloading the latest version of Firefox, and of course selected my choice search engine to set as default, and now, finally, I have appearing in my window, complete English mode and selections when I type in a search in English...only reverting to Arabic mode when I type in a search in Arabic.


Ah...the benefits and troubles of modern technology...hence 'smart' devices and 'smart' applications which are, as I've come to learn, not really so 'smart', afterall.


Balqees Mohammed

Mac-user since 2009

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Jan 25, 2013 9:21 PM

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Smart applications not always so smart

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