Clearly, the universe did not intend for me to have a gmail account. I understand and accept this, after trying for nearly two fruitless hours (with an interruption for a solo) to get an account to work.
First it was that my IE was too old. 5.0 is too old and creaky. Fine. I looked for a newer version, but no, apparently because I only have OS X.2.0 and nothing more recent, I can't have anything newer than 5.0. Same goes for *shudder* Safari, which I hate anyway because it crashes every five fucking seconds. *spits in Safari's general direction*
Anyway, I decide to give it a try anyway, since gmail's helpful instructions say I can override that pesky little problem and try my clunky old browser. I go through all the steps (a few times, since I keep getting funky error messages which make no sense to me, because they're in a language I don't understand, even though it sort of looks like it might once, a long time ago, have been English :P). I am annoyed to discover that gmail doesn't accept underscores, but I resign myself to this minor irritant and struggle valiantly onward.
Then, I get this:
Gmail requires ActiveX controls to be enabled
Your browser seems to be Internet Explorer, and ActiveX seems to be disabled. Gmail requires ActiveX to be enabled in order to operate.
To use Gmail, enable ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer. You can do this by going to the Tools menu, selecting Internet Options, Security tab, Internet zone, and either select the Default Level, or selecting Custom Level and scrolling down to "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins" and selecting Enable.
After enabling ActiveX controls, try again.
So, given that I use a Mac and that these instructions are *useless* for me, I ferret around in my system until I actually figure out who to Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins. I enable the thing, and feel pretty smug. I go back and clicky on the link. Nothing happens. I am perplexed, go back, fiddle with it some more, and try again. Nada. I fiddle with it for another fifteen minutes or so, and still zilch.
So now I am officially throwing in the towel. It is clearly written in the stars that gmail is not for me. At least, not until the beta-ing is over and they've got something for Mac users with IE 5.0 who can't run ActiveX (whatever the hell that is) on their systems.
First it was that my IE was too old. 5.0 is too old and creaky. Fine. I looked for a newer version, but no, apparently because I only have OS X.2.0 and nothing more recent, I can't have anything newer than 5.0. Same goes for *shudder* Safari, which I hate anyway because it crashes every five fucking seconds. *spits in Safari's general direction*
Anyway, I decide to give it a try anyway, since gmail's helpful instructions say I can override that pesky little problem and try my clunky old browser. I go through all the steps (a few times, since I keep getting funky error messages which make no sense to me, because they're in a language I don't understand, even though it sort of looks like it might once, a long time ago, have been English :P). I am annoyed to discover that gmail doesn't accept underscores, but I resign myself to this minor irritant and struggle valiantly onward.
Then, I get this:
Gmail requires ActiveX controls to be enabled
Your browser seems to be Internet Explorer, and ActiveX seems to be disabled. Gmail requires ActiveX to be enabled in order to operate.
To use Gmail, enable ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer. You can do this by going to the Tools menu, selecting Internet Options, Security tab, Internet zone, and either select the Default Level, or selecting Custom Level and scrolling down to "Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins" and selecting Enable.
After enabling ActiveX controls, try again.
So, given that I use a Mac and that these instructions are *useless* for me, I ferret around in my system until I actually figure out who to Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins. I enable the thing, and feel pretty smug. I go back and clicky on the link. Nothing happens. I am perplexed, go back, fiddle with it some more, and try again. Nada. I fiddle with it for another fifteen minutes or so, and still zilch.
So now I am officially throwing in the towel. It is clearly written in the stars that gmail is not for me. At least, not until the beta-ing is over and they've got something for Mac users with IE 5.0 who can't run ActiveX (whatever the hell that is) on their systems.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 07:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 07:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 07:42 pm (UTC)I'm scared and confused.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 07:55 pm (UTC)I also hate the look of Safari, but that's neither here nor there. If it worked better, I'd use it. It has the annoying tendency to "unexpectedly quit" every five minutes or so, on a good day. Of course, that's for the older version I have. Remember, I have a slightly older version of OS X.2. Can't say what OS X point two point three billion does.
no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 08:00 pm (UTC)*grr*
*burns with the hatred of a thousand fiery suns*
to borrow a quote from
I don't even need this account, which is probably why I'm so pissed off. I just wasted two hours on something I shouldn't have bothered with to begin with. :P
no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 08:23 pm (UTC)http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/releases/#download
no subject
Date: 2004-06-21 08:33 pm (UTC)Please let me know soon as we're coming up on the end of the month.
Thanks!
Sandra
no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 06:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-22 10:02 am (UTC)... no wonder Yahoo went crazy with the account sizes and upgrades. They're worried about losing to gmail, I guess...