The desktop wars

The son likes it simple. Minimalistic, no icons (thats right, none) cluttering up the screen. The wall paper? Spartan, with some small figure somewhere the only respite from monotony. Sometimes a cartoon of some rock band that has caught his fancy (the cartoon, not the rock band). Being a young man with unblemished eyesight (marred of course by the mandatory driving glasses) he also likes it small. As a rule, he rules, being the most frequent user of the machine. But he has certain well documented distractions. The mother, nature and his cell phone, which can only be answered pacing in the garden, eating leaves off random plants (a feature his phone has passed on to the daughter's phone).

The old man. Ever patient and ever ready to take over. He likes it obvious. Big. He doesn't need much but he is willing to adjust, to learn to reach out to unmentionable parts of windows to get it. The wallpaper? He wont even notice if one day it packs up and leaves.

The daughter. She always needs it for just 2 minutes. Sometimes its actually true. With taste belying her age, she likes it "4-icons-cover-the-desktop" big. But of course, there are no icons and the 2 minutes are too precious to be spent messing around with the resolution. She squirms, she squints, she winks, but she gets the job done.

The old lady, in typical "you-can-have-my-share-of-the-ice-cream" fashion, keeps away.

With the arrival of his new toy, the son has moved away from the old one. But the icons are still missing, the wallpaper is still white, she still has to squint. A colonial hangover? Long live the king? Naaah. Just old habits die hard.