Good computer, bad computer

[coriolis]

We received a gift in the mail. It's some promotional item because my wife is constantly filling out things and sending them in.

It's a (very) cheap digital camera. No name, just a sticker that says Made in China. It takes tiny little grainy pictures that are about 0.6 meg jpg's. No flash either. It's something to play with anyway. It came with a mini cd with software.

I installed the software on our first computer (Windows ME), but when I plug in the camera, windows can't find the software. I installed it on our second, older computer (also ME) and it loaded and worked perfectly.

I spent most of the evening trying different ways to get the first computer to recognize it, but forget it. I'm not really asking for help here because it's a crummy little camera and it works with one computer. That's good enough, I guess. It just amazes me that this technology has reached the point that it's now a promotional giveaway.

I remember that electronic calculators did the same thing. Now calculators are $1 throwaway items.