Hi-Tech gifts can match a lot of interests

Computer Life column for 8/2/97 by
Richard Gordon

Sometimes gift-giving can lead to stress, particularly if the giver and receiver are on totally different wavelengths.

My first year in college, my mother asked for my Christmas wish list. One item on it was "Jefferson Airplane: Surrealistic Pillow." One of my sisters reported that Mom looked all over the bedding departments at two stores before my sister steered her towards a record store.

If you plan to give someone a computer-related gift, you can avoid a situation like that one if you do two things: match the person's interests and ask him what he wants.

Last month, I sent e-mail to about 200 friends and relations, asking what was at the top of their hi-tech wish lists. I heard from about 50 people with interests in computers, music, dogs, and soccer.

Some people wanted hardware: more memory and faster modems were at the top of many moderate-budget wish lists.

Several people wanted bigger monitors, larger hard drives, CD-ROM drives, digital cameras, scanners (to import text and graphics), or "cartridge drives"- devices that let you store 40-200M on a single removable disk.

One friend wrote that his brother surprised him with a Zip drive; one of my sisters covets a Syquest cartridge drive. Of course, her husband gave her a spanking new hard drive several Mother's Days ago. "All the ladies at work were appalled, as they thought I should have been taken out to eat or given candy and flowers. But I was thrilled!"

Four people wanted to combine their TVs and computers. One person wrote that he loves capturing images from video. Another wrote that he wants a VGA-TV adapter so he can play games and surf the web on his 35" TV.

Some people want whole new systems. A couple of people mentioned new desktop systems, but portability is hot: Four people suggested "palmtop" computers, with glowing praise for the Zaurus ZR-5800 from a Windows user and for the Newton Message Pad 2000 from a Mac user. Others want some kind of laptop, with the specs ranging from one with a "keyboard and mouse that make sense to me and won't slow down my typing" to one with top-of-the-line everything, modular parts for upgrades, and a docking station.

But the majority of people wanted recreational software, sometimes bundled with the necessary hardware.

Several people said they'd ask for a computer game: some had specific ones in mind, others just wanted something new.

Even more people suggested specialized software that matched a specific hobby or talent.

A lot of my friends want some kind of music software. For instance, a fiddler and a guitarist both want a keyboard tutor. One banjo player wrote that he wants "all the equipment and software necessary to record and playback digital music files: pickups, patch cords, MIDI interface, multigigabyte disk drive, sound card, speakers, whatnot. Oh, and a tech expert to put it all together and explain it to me."

Several people suggested specialized data base software. They want help with genealogical charts; canine pedigrees; time management; keeping track of the tapes, CDs, or books in a personal collection; tracking dogs' accomplishments at obedience trials; and tracking the players on a soccer team.

One of my son's baby-sitters wants software to jazz up parent newsletters and pupil assignments when she begins student teaching next month.

A couple of people want some help re-designing their homes. One wrote that she wants "programs that will allow more creativity in my computing life. The top two items on my list would include a good, flexible, easy-to-use 3D landscaping program (I have one now that is inflexible and hard to use.) and an interior design program which doesn't require a course in CAD to use."

And finally, my father weighed in with a request for "A resident guru who speaks plain English!"

Copyright © 1997, The News Journal Company

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